everyone knows when I have a bad hair day...

knowing young children...

2012-01-08T11:39:00.003-05:00

One of my students had surgery while we were on vacation. She came back to school last week with two casts on her lower legs and a really big story to tell.

Naturally, we had her share at Morning Meeting. She talked about the surgery a little bit, talked about her casts a lot and asked for questions/comments. Many of the questions were about her crutches (were they hard to use, what were they called), how did she come to school on the bus (she didn’t), and did she need some help (she told us that she would ask for help when she needed it).

She brought several tools from the hospital to share with us: the air mask she used when getting the anesthesia (she called it the “strange air”), her identification bracelets, and her stuffed bunny from home with two casts on the legs as well.

Here’s what I couldn’t stop thinking about as she was sharing: there are some pretty brilliant people at that hospital.

First of all, I'm still thinking about what a wonderful idea it is to have a child bring a favorite, cuddly toy and affix it with the same casts. It allows for a feeling of solidarity, for play, and for sharing with others. Then the fact that they allowed her to take the mask from her anesthesia home as well pleases me greatly. Again, she has something with which she can share, and it allows for more play after the fact to process the entire experience.

It was weird enough for me, as an adult, to go through anesthesia the two times I’ve had to deal with it, but as a child, it must be a vastly different experience. Anyway. Not a lot to say about all of this, just that there are some pretty amazing people out there that do pretty amazing things for children when they go to the hospital.

I am so thankful that they exist.

adapting and balancing projects...

2011-02-21T17:32:00.004-05:00

I have an ongoing struggle that I imagine a lot of teachers face: how do I teach the curriculum the state tells me I need to teach, but make sure I'm doing it in an age appropriate way?

Believe me when I tell you this is a constant struggle. It's one that I probably fail at a good portion of the time. I had some success with this particular one, and hence, I'm putting it here. Plus, I regularly help children focus on the small successes, those that build up to larger ones, so why not afford myself the same support?

My state's standards tell us that first graders need to be able to tell a story about each of five famous Americans. About each one, there are particular facts that they are required to know. There are 5 things they are required to know about George Washington, and we are studying him now. There are so many ways to teach it, and I'm always looking for new ones (please feel free to comment with any ideas if this sparks ideas of your own or you have ideas to share).

This is a project that developed out of one of those premade projects in resources like The Mailbox and various books with multiple blackline masters. The project had the children cut out puzzle pieces that had various facts about George Washington printed on them, then the children would cut out and put the puzzle together, and, voila! the Washington Monument!

So, sort of a cool project. Definitely something first graders would be highly jazzed about. But, the preprinted puzzle pieces didn't relate to the required knowledge that my state expects. So, I adapted it. My kids now receive a paper with the empty puzzle pieces and they draw representations of what they're supposed to know about Washington. Then they cut, arrange, and glue it, and still, voila! the Washington Monument! But with their own personality and their own work.

I like this way better. It connects to the children's learning; it meets the six year old desire to do projects with their learning, and it allows them to add other things that they know (either about Washington himself, or the monument) onto their picture. It also really helps me informally get a sense of who is integrating this learning into their schema and who needs more support from me about ways to connect it to their own learning.

It's not a perfect project, but three years worth of children have appreciated it, and they typically hold onto the knowledge (and more than just the expected 5 facts) rather well.

Plus, look how cool... [note: click on any picture to make it bigger]

This student is drawing and using words.

Some students just draw -- this is showing Washington as a leader of soldiers.

A work in progress.

This student used pictures and words to show what she remembered.

This I love because she put her own personality right into it -- see the steps inside the Monument with people going up? And the speech bubbles? Priceless.

being "on"

2011-01-25T18:19:00.002-05:00

It's amazing what being "on" for several hours in a row will do for my subconscious. For people that might not be teachers, I define being "on" as: managing a classroom, observing kids all the time, intervening when something is about to happen, teaching lessons, asking questions, handing someone a squeezey ball just before they're about to flip, adjusting the rules to a game to make it more accessible for a student, writing a word upside down to model for a child who needs it, and about a zillion and one other things that a teacher does in a single day (sometimes in a single hour).

Being on for a full day is exhausting and awesome and awful in lots of different ways (and I have another half-written post about it), but for this post I've been thinking a lot about some of the positive aspects of it.

Here's one: over the past week or so I've been dealing with something really difficult in my personal life. It's big and sad and I think about it a lot at night and on the weekends. But during the school day I just don't have time. My students walk through the door with stories and smiles and when they're there I kick right into teacher mode. I don't even mind teacher mode -- I like it! I like hearing these stories, laughing about someone's dog getting out when they're trying to give him a bath. I like pulling groups for guided reading and watching my students read and work on fluency and expression. I like conferencing with young writers, marvelling at how their handwriting and spelling can change in such a short period of time, laughing at glorious word choices, and watching them think seriously about how to make their book clear enough for another person to read. I like watching them wrestle with math concepts and try things that don't work and then try again and again.

I like teaching.

Then, at the end of the day, when I'm exhausted and smiling with a new student story from the day, I realize I haven't spent any time obsessing about what's bothering me. I realize that these children have given me an amazing respite from difficulty.

For that, I am overwhelmingly grateful.

language empathy...

2011-01-12T19:42:00.003-05:00

Teachers can turn anything into a learning experience.

My husband and I were recently in Mexico for four days. It was a trip he earned through his job and believe me, we were well aware that we'll probably never get this opportunity again, so we tried to make the most of it.

On one of the days, we signed up for a bus tour that took us to some important sites, through a Mexican town, and ended up at Chichén Itzá, Mayan ruins that were built during the 500's. It was a wonderful trip; we learned so much, and the ruins were some of the most spectacular things I've seen in my life.

NOTE: The wee tiny little spot in front of the steps is me.

During one of our stops we disembarked for lunch; it was delicious. We sat at a table with people from all over the world: England, Mexico, India, Colombia. Our closest seatmates both spoke Spanish, and my husband and I each have a passable ability to understand and speak some Spanish. One of my very favorite things from the day was talking with a woman from Mexico and a man from Columbia and learning about them through their beautiful and our (very broken) Spanish. Several times we were trying to explain something and had to talk all around the idea in order to get to what we were trying to communicate.

On the bus trip itself our guide would give part of the lecture in Spanish and then would translate it into English. I had to pay close attention to the Spanish, and even then I missed probably 50% of what he was saying, and that which I understood I'm sure I only understood at a very rudimentary level.

The whole experience got me thinking about what so many of my students go through daily when they come to school. They are listening as best they can, but it's not their native language, so they are understanding as much as they can, as best they can.

If those few hours were exhausting for me, I can only imagine what it's like for them, day after day. It renewed my empathy.

Like I said... teachers can turn anything into a learning experience. :)

pushing through...

2011-01-11T21:33:00.003-05:00

I've told this story over and over again. In fact, some of my colleagues have heard this story numerous times (and three of them heard it again today when we were at a workshop). So, if you are one of my colleagues, I apologize in advance.

This story happened in my class about three years ago. I noticed that the children were having real difficulty when putting away the materials for our Poetry Workstation. This station is basically the poem of the week, but each word is individually cut out, laminated and stuck with a small square of velcro. The children then put the words back in order to form the poem. [note: a picture and more detailed explanation of this station is here]

The words are all kept in a ziploc bag, but for some reason, my class was having a very hard time putting the tools away. Words would get lost, they'd spill out into the bucket or the floor, and I was regularly having to clean them up.

So, I posed it to the children: "I've noticed that the Poetry Workstation doesn't get put away as well as our other stations. Sometimes the words get lost, and they spill out of the bag and get mixed up with the other words."

The children offered some thoughts: "we should put things away carefully." or "we need to be better at cleaning up..."

I remember having a little mental debate with myself right there about whether to support their suggestions and close the meeting, or to try to push further. I knew that it wasn't that they needed to "clean up better" -- because they were.

So I told them: "I hear what you're saying, but let me tell you what I notice: you are being careful and safe when you put things away. The Big Books are organized and ready to be used. Our classroom library almost always has the books put away in the right baskets; the magnetic letters are put away in the right letter spaces and the top is closed...

"You take a lot of responsibility with our learning tools, so I wonder if there is something about the poetry workstation that makes it hard for you to put the tools away."

There was a long pause while they thought about it.

Then Lisa raised her hand. "Miz F? Could you maybe get those bags that have the zipper on the top that you do with your fingers?"

I didn't know where she was going with that, but I knew which bags she meant. "Sure, of course... can you tell me why, though?"

"They're just so hard to close!" she told me.

My classroom exploded at that moment: murmurs of agreement, the physical connection sign, and then Lavender stood up and said, "I know! I have to put the bag down on the table and use my whole hand to close it! And sometimes it doesn't even work!"

I was dumbfounded. I remember thinking: seriously? That is the problem... the wrong bags?

"Okay," I told them. "We can absolutely do that. I'll try to get them tomorrow or over the weekend and we'll make sure to replace the other bags with the ones that have the zipper on top."

You should have seen the relief on their faces.

The funny thing? It was exactly what they needed. We had very little trouble with that station for the rest of the year. And I've learned to use those bags now in the station.

But I guess what it really taught me? Was to trust my instincts. I knew there was something that was making that station hard. I almost left it halfway through the conversation, but I'm so glad I tried to push a little further.

Of course, not every solution is as easy as just getting a different kind of bag -- but it's still a good reminder for me to try to push the kids a little further. They always know a lot more than they think they do.

And they teach me so much, too. ♥

meta titles...

2011-01-10T20:08:00.002-05:00

One of my students is writing a How to book entitled: How to Write a How-to Book.

I know.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?

egocentrism...

2011-01-03T19:16:00.001-05:00

For four years I taught Kindergarten and loved it. This is my ninth year teaching first grade -- which completely blows my mind sometimes (but that's a reflection for another day) -- and sometimes I have experiences that illustrate some of the difference between 5-turning-6 year olds and 6-turning-7 year olds.

One of my students, Tarak, has been away visiting family in his country since late November. It was a wonderful moment this morning when he walked in and we got to see him again for the first time in over a month! Well, his birthday was in December, and even though he was not there to celebrate with us, we still made a huge card and got out the birthday pencil for him to save for when he got back.

To be honest, with all of the busyness of starting up again, it had slipped my mind.

This afternoon during activity time, we were working on a card for a January birthday friend and when Tarak signed it, he told me: "My birthday passed, but we're still gonna celebrate it here." I nodded at him. "Yes, your birthday was December 8th, right?" He beamed at me, and then went back to signing the card.

That conversation had triggered my memory, so I went to get his card and pencil and brought it over to him. I put it in front of him and waited for him to notice (and, yes, sometimes I do have an overdeveloped sense of the dramatic). He looked up, saw the oversized card, read his name, and then looked inside to see detailed drawings and signatures from everyone in our class.

"Wow." He looked up at me, genuinely surprised. "You guys made me a card."

"Of course we did! Just because you weren't here didn't mean we weren't thinking about you."

And then, this question: "Do I get to take it home?"

"Absolutely."

I loved this. Loved it. Because, at the very basic level, it showcases how six-seven year olds are starting to move out of some of the more self-focused egocentrism of 5 year olds (not to imply anything negative about 5 year olds. They are incredibly kind and thoughtful and I think each one of them ought to be consulted by the government when they try to make laws.) and into the appreciation of the fact that people would make cards! When he wasn't even there! That out of sight doesn't mean out of mind.

And that, damn, it was really good to have Tarak back in school today. ♥

our community...

2011-01-02T15:42:00.001-05:00

Recently I was talking with my brother about coming to visit my classroom. He tries to visit at least once per year and gets a kick out of meeting the six year olds (they often have lovely questions for him).

He said, “Let me know when a good time is and I’ll try to figure it out.”

My response was, “Well, any time would be good to visit, really”

Which is actually true. But it got me thinking: why is any time a good time, now? The more I thought about it, I realized it’s because we have our routines and procedures set up, the kids know what they’re doing, they know what the expectations are, they’re learning how to keep learning and working during each learning period and are practicing it each day, even if they don’t quite have it down pat yet. It’s because we now know how to take better care of each other, how to take out all of our tools and put them away carefully, how to make connections, how to handle conflict in a (mostly) respectful way. We know how to laugh together now, and we do it quite often.

We’re now a community.

It’s very different than where we start at the beginning of the year: a group of individuals with a lot of excitement, apprehension, and curiosity.

This isn’t a journey that has an end point. We’re not going to get there, per se, because that would mean that we wouldn’t have any more growing or learning to do. Throughout the year we have new things to navigate, obstacles that throw us off course, times when we need to step back, re-center ourselves, and get back on track.

I think when I told my brother that anytime would be a good time to visit it’s because I have confidence in the strength of that very community relationship, that I can help guide us – when needed – through new and different things, and trust that while it won’t be perfect, it might not even be good at that moment. But it will be real. And it will make us stronger.

This year has really made me reflect on the importance of the first six weeks of school (and how hard they are), but also on how those weeks are the building blocks that get us to the point of -- well, not relaxation, because with the ever-increasing standards for learning, there’s always more being added to our plates -- but to the point of confidence in the children.

Which is a wonderful place to be.

six weeks in...

2010-10-19T05:50:00.000-04:00

One of my very favorite things as a teacher happened yesterday.

The beginning of the year is so exhausting and so full of practice and routines and procedures and getting to know each other and building our classroom community. It’s a lot of work; it’s a labor of love. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that the moment will happen – the moment when we feel like a community, rather than a class of a different people in the same room. The moment when I know who they are and I love them for all their little foibles and idiosyncrasies and I imagine all of the amazing things they are going to learn (and teach me!) this year.

It took more than six weeks – it was the 29th day of school. And yesterday? Yesterday, I fell in love with my class.

I sort of feel like if I wanted to, I could fly.

I don't even have eight arms...

2010-09-16T20:21:00.001-04:00

A close up of the alphabet that we finished today...

I made the octopus as an example to show the children. After we talked about how to make it really big and color it so people could see it from far away, I showed the octopus.

The students were so lovely about the picture:

"Whoa, that's so good."

"I like the colors, Miz F."

Then Mahan said, "It looks like you."

Um... ?

What now?

So, I've been working with young children for a really long time. I've heard a whole lot in my years. But I've never actually had that happen. I knew his intent, though. He was being a glorious, positive first grader. Trying to be empathetic, to give me a compliment.

So I said, "ooh, like I have big eyes like the octopus?"

"Yeah," he said, and smiled.

We moved on, made our fantastic alphabet, and had a good day.

But to set the record straight... I do not look like an octopus.

Just so we're clear.

sadness...

2010-06-15T17:25:00.002-04:00

Some days I am just floored by the empathy of my students.

Yesterday my aunt died.

It was not a surprise -- she's been sick for a while -- but it doesn't make the reality any less difficult for me. I was on my lunch break when my father called to tell me, so I had a minute or two to myself before I had to leave to pick up my class. I had it together on the walk down the corridor, but as soon as I walked into the cafeteria all my emotions got the better of me. I teared up and knew that if I opened my mouth to speak I would break down. Several children saw me and watched me take some deep breaths to try to get it together.

I believe very strongly that it's a positive thing for children to see adults show emotion (I've mentioned this before), but I also don't think it's appropriate for me to break down and sob in front of them.

It's a good thing my class and I have so many routines and use so much sign language with each other; I knew if I started to talk I would start to cry in earnest. So, I was able to use my hands to signal what to do. After they lined up and we started back to the classroom I saw our math specialist and asked if she wouldn't mind walking them back to the classroom so I could take a minute to myself. She jumped right in to help out (♥). I went to the restroom and cried for a minute and then felt ready (and eager, really) to get back to the students, so I headed back and thanked her profusely for helping out.

The children wanted to know why I was so sad (of course), so I shared my reason, and told them that I was really sad, but that I was also okay and I was so glad to be with them. After our closing circle, we line up for dismissal. As we say goodbye I always ask each child if they'd like a "handshake, a high five, or a hug" before they leave. Most of them choose hug every day, and each one of them did yesterday.

I'll tell you this: each one of my students held me a little bit more tightly, and so many of them -- so many -- looked me in the eye and said, "I hope you feel better soon."

That's my class.

I couldn't have asked for a better way to soothe some of my sadness. My students are incredible. I am so lucky to work with them.

general inspiration...

2010-06-07T19:26:00.004-04:00

Apparently I'm not quite done linking back to a quote that inspires me. I keep finding more and more ways in which it's good advice for not only writing, but for teaching in general. I'm starting to wonder if it's not an appropriate metaphor for my view of teaching with my students.

For years I've been a very strong believer in the Responsive Classroom approach. It fits so well within my philosophy of education -- in the way I think about children and teaching -- that it's really only natural that I find it such a good match.

Over the past two years, I've been thinking a lot about the language I use when I communicate with my students. The RC approach talks about three kinds of language to use with children: Reinforcing, Reminding, and Redirecting language [for two useful articles, go here and here]. There is a wonderful book that discusses teacher language in great detail: The Power of Our Words by Paula Denton.

Of the 3 R's in teacher language, I think the Reinforcing piece can be one of the hardest of the three to build facility with. I've been thinking about it recently and wondering if it's so difficult because for many teachers it involves breaking old habits. Instead of praising, we're naming specific behaviors and allowing the children to construct their own meaning and self-control with our guidance. We're not saying, "I like the way you're walking in the hallway," which praises and implies that they're trying to please me. We're saying, "Your mouth is quiet and your feet are walking. You're showing respect to the other classes." which names the specific behavior.

Naturally, there are so many more things I could say (and probably will) about teacher language and the Reinforcing piece in particular, but as my mind is really quite stuck on my Lucy Calkins connection from last week, it was with this that I began this blog post and connecting these two teaching elements in my head.

When Lucy Calkins encourages the teacher to Find the good in the classroom... isn't she doing just that? Reinforcing what is already there, allowing children to see that and then guiding them forward. She's naming specific writing behaviors, giving the children information about what is in good writing, not just giving general praise.

Specific feedback is so powerful. It names expectations without any grey areas. There is no guess what the teacher wants, but instead gives the information to everyone. Every student has access to the information they need, instead of just the ones that are good at reading the teacher's mind.

So, while I have copied the quote and taped it to my writing clipboard, I wonder if it's something I should be carrying around all the time, advice that I should be heeding any time I'm talking with a student. No matter how much I relish moments when I'm in front of the whole class being dramatic and engaging, it's the small moments from Writing Workshop, from Reading or Math Work Stations that I treasure the most. For me teaching is, at its very core, the guidance and encouragement of learning.

And isn't that exactly what Lucy Calkins is talking about?

first grade artists...

2010-06-03T18:10:00.002-04:00

This is absolutely my new favorite picture drawn by one of my first graders. Just look at the happiness in their faces! The doubles! Each mini person has their own unique personality... some are using one hand to hold up their joyful sign and some are using two.

Sometimes First Grade artists are my very favorite kind of artists. ♥

everything is cyclical...

2010-06-02T19:28:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I wrote about a quote from Lucy Calkins that inspires me and reminds me to step back, to see what is going well, and go from there. Today I was reminded (by my students, of course) of how cyclical the whole teaching and learning process really is.

We're working on non-fiction writing and some of the different elements of non-fiction that the children can put into their work. I sat with one of my darlings as he read his book to me. It was one of those moments where I was doing a lot of mental berating of myself. This boy is clever, gregarious, and so empathetic.

And he didn't have any spaces between his words.

I had to take a couple of deep breaths. He can use spaces between words. He knows to use spaces between words. But here it is, June 2nd, and there aren't spaces between his words. Of of the many thoughts that went through my mind there were few that painted my teaching in a good light, and some of them might have even involved expletives. I was a little heartbroken, reflecting on my shortcomings.

This was all internal, of course. As I smiled and took a breath to gather what to say, I heard this from the next table:

"When you used the ellipses, it really made me want to turn the page!"

I glanced over to see Seth reading his story to Hyung for feedback before he got ready to staple it and call it done. Hyung's comment had sparked a fire in Seth and he was showing her the other punctuation he'd used and telling her why he'd chosen to put it where he did.

It was a 25 second conversation at most, and fizzled out shortly after what I'd heard, but it still left an impression on me.

Lucy Calkins' advice had taken root, not just in me, but in my students. By regularly noticing the good in their writing, by modeling how excited I was to see writers trying new things and making interesting choices, the students took that as the norm during writing workshop and started doing themselves. In fact, they were doing it so well that they were bringing me right back in when I was about to fall off the wagon.

So, I turned to the waiting writer and smiled again. This time I pointed out real things that I saw in his writing (he was labeling pictures in his diagram, spelling many quick and easy words correctly, he'd even included an inset in one of the pictures to give more information). He nodded along with me, and then when I asked if I could hold one of the pages to try to read myself, he watched as I tried to figure out some of the words, and he said, "maybe on the next page I can make my spaces bigger."

"That sounds like a good plan," I told him. "I look forward to reading more of your story tomorrow or Friday."

I can't stop thinking about how important it was for me to have overheard the mini exchange between Hyung and Seth today; it helped me put things back into perspective, and because of it, one student was able to figure out for himself that he needed to be more cognizant of spaces, rather than me freaking out and going crazy over something that, in the scheme of things, is really quite minor. And tomorrow, I can wink at him from across the room and mouth, "Don't forget those spaces!" I imagine that he'll wink right back.

It was good that Hyung was there to talk me down today. Even if she had no idea she was doing it.

wishes for writing

2010-06-01T21:03:00.001-04:00

In Small Moments: Personal Narrative Writing, Lucy Calkins writes this:

You will have read through your children's work and, in your mind, you'll have a long list of wishes for your kids. You'll wish they'd
Draw more representationally
Write more focused narratives
Write more in addition to drawing
Use their time wisely
Focus on writing more than handwriting

You are wise to wish these things for your writers, but don't show children your feelings if you are discouraged. For now, instead of tackling all the problems, immerse the class in rich examples of what you hope they'll do. Act as if all is going splendidly, even if it isn't yet. Find the good in the classroom even if you know you are overlooking the problems that are really there.

I love that. I love it not because it's super peppy and positive, but because it's real. With young writers (perhaps with all writers), there are always so many places to improve, always so many places to go, to teach. As a writer, there are so many things to remember (audience, voice, showing, not telling, and etc...) . As a kid... there are even more. They're still developing control over their handwriting, they're learning to match letters and sounds, and then remember how to spell words correctly, how to put spaces in between words, and even what that crazy "experlation mark" is for.

Then, their teachers pile even more on: we talk about zooming in, about writing about just one thing, about using interesting punctuation (ellipses and quotation marks); we talk about choosing the right word, about thinking about how to write a good lead that will capture the reader and make them want to learn more.

It's no wonder that reading over children's writing can be overwhelming. There are so many things for them still to learn! And what about the punctuation, didn't I teach that already?

But Lucy Calkins is right on.

Reading this advice a few years ago really freed me. Teaching writing had been 20% joy and 80% something else entirely. This advice helped me remember to do what I like to do best: notice what the kids are doing. Notice it out loud. Individually. In pairs. To the whole class. Point out the good writing going on. Children want examples; they want to be examples. Holding onto the wishes for my students as writers was important, but finding it within what they were already doing was more important.

Everyone who studies child development studies Lev Vgotsky and his Zone of Proximal Development -- this is the idea that the best learning place for something new is something that's slightly harder than what that person is already doing. They need to be able to challenge themselves, to reach up just a little to grasp the new learning, but not too far that it's out of reach and creates frustration. This is highly oversimplifying all of Vgotsky's work, but bear with me.

It's different for everyone and it changes. Sometimes daily.

Isn't that exactly what Calkins is getting at in her statement? Instead of presenting my class with a list of things that they need to start doing, we examine and notice what we are already doing. Then we build little challenges in to learn more, to see more, to do more. Instead of a list of things they need to be doing, but aren't, children are recognizing what they are already doing well, and eagerly anticipating learning even more.

I've shared this quote often with colleagues, usually paraphrased, and then I have to go dig through the book to find it again.

I think tomorrow I'm going to print out that quote and tape it to my writing clipboard to keep under my fingertips.

how to laugh...

2010-03-16T21:10:00.001-04:00

My students and I laughed so much today. So much.

It started in the middle of writing when I was visiting tables, listening to various students share their work (we're writing How to stories at the moment). Hyung shared her story with me. It's title: How to not get sprayed by a skunk

If that's not a useful story, then I don't know what is. Also, I can say with complete certainty that this is not a story that has been written by any first grader I've ever worked with. It's a complete original.

Also, she was quick to point out that one of our strategy mini-lessons (namely, getting a friend to act out your story while you read it aloud to see if there are any things you left out or anything that just does not make sense) was very useful to her writing process. She showed me the page where it had said, "If you see a skunk, move."

Well, when she read it aloud to a friend, Annie pointed out that Hyung hadn't shared with the reader which way to move -- what if the reader thought that meant you should move TOWARD the skunk?! That just wouldn't do!

So, Annie saved Hyung's story (and many potentially skunky-smelling people) and Hyung added to that page "If you see a skunk, move back and away."

The best thing? Hyung has a sense of humor about the whole thing. She gets that it's a pretty funny topic to be writing about. But she still wants it to be the best it can be. And every grin or giggle (from student or teacher) just makes it better.

So, that was first thing this morning. Then we were working on a book about Symbols and the kids were at tables illustrating their books. One table got talking about what would happen if the Statue of Liberty came to visit the Washington Monument, and what it would look like and what they would say (and could the Washington Monument even talk, really?) Then they got giggling about what all the people around would say if they saw the whole thing going on!

I... I don't even have words.

Plus, it turned out to be a nice day, so when we went out to recess we all tossed our coats on the ground and ran around like crazy and made up crazy titles for games that I'm not sure I could spell.

All in all, a really good day to be six. (or several times six, in my case)

I wonder what sort of How to story I can look forward to tomorrow...

what else can I say...

2010-03-01T14:13:00.002-05:00

Reason #8764658977 why I love my class:

I'm trying to do less. More spefically, I'm trying to do less with my left arm. It is so easy for me to carry piles of paper, pick up baskets of color tiles, and continue just doing everything in the classroom by myself (believe me, there is always plenty to be done!). Except, as you may remember, I have a broken arm. So, I really shouldn't be doing all those things. The doctor told me not to. My husband keeps telling me not to. Everyone keeps telling me not to.

It's so hard to keep asking for help, over and over and over again.

And while I'm significantly older than I was when I was in school and really good at doing everything my teacher told me, I am (mostly) capable of learning new things. I think.

I'm trying.

Last week I told my class that I had a goal: I was trying not to use my broken arm, even though I wanted to. It wasn't good for helping it heal, and I didn't want to hurt it again. I asked them if they could help me remember my goal if they saw me forgetting.

Later on that day, as we were modeling a project, I remembered my goal and kept asking various students to help cutting out different things for the project. Of course, I hadn’t realized how much there was – I should have had more of it prepared. After asking the third or fourth child to help cut something out, and feeling totally exasperated with myself, I burst out, “I’m so sorry you guys. I shouldn’t be asking you all to do all this cutting; this is not your job.”

Well.

There was this absolutely genuine outpouring of support from them: “We don’t mind!” “Of course it’s our job!” Miz F – you have a broken arm!”

It was as though they were all showing me, “Dude. We’ve got this one.”

I looked at all of them, sort of overwhelmed and didn’t really know what to say. And really, what else is there to say in a situation like that other than thank you?

So I did. ♥

growing humor

2010-02-19T17:25:00.001-05:00

With all of the recent snow, we've had a lot of indoor recess. My class has been wondering when we can go outside for recess again. Our playground is somewhat cleared off, but I've been worried about bringing them out because it's really slippery. I told them:

I don't want to go outside when its slippery and have someone slip and fall and break their arm. Like somebody in this class. Then I grinned knowingly at them.

They all laughed and nodded at me.

Isn't it amazing how children grow and their humor matures? Several months ago they would have been tripping over themselves to say, "Look! You broke your arm!" and point out the connection to what I'd just said. But now they get the joke.

How cool is that?

everything is fixable...

2010-02-11T17:36:00.001-05:00

note: I just found the writing below in a folder of half-written teacher posts. Since I wrote it in November, I've thought a lot about this moment and other moments when I have not been my best self, and at the expense of one of my students.

One of my teacher mantras is this: Everything is fixable.

I do believe that. If I didn't I don't think I'd be able to teach because I'd be too worried about inflicting irreparable damage on my students. Daily. But I do believe things are fixable - and that oftentimes it's the fixing that can do some of the most profound social teaching.

It's humbling -- and not in a good way -- to put this out here. With a blog, I get the chance to showcase my successes: the moments of awesome that I see in my students every day. But, and particularly in a profession so emotion-laden and isolating as teaching, I think it's important to share the less than stellar moments that we all have.

Here's one of mine...

11 November 2009

Last Friday I was not my best self.

We were getting ready to go to PE: bookbags out and ready in the circle for when we return, the line leader, door holders and caboose in line and ready.

Emma asked if she could call the kids to line up (her job is the "announcer" and that is one of the announcer jobs if we have time.). I reminded her to go quickly; we didn't want to be late. She assured me that she would. I went to stand next to the line and grin at kids. The clock ticked ominiously at me; we had only a few minutes to get there and the gym is really far away.

"Emma," I called. "Let's go quickly, sweetie."

She kept calling. But apparently not quickly enough for my liking. I kept looking at the clock; it was getting later and later.

"Emma..."

She was calling them. But slowly. Four were left.

"Emma, honey, come on..."

I looked again and there were still the same four children sitting quietly on the rug, ready to be called. Time was running out; we were going to be late. So I called their names, quickly and distinctly.

Emma absolutely wilted. She was crestfallen. As I sent the line leader down the hall on the start of our walk to the gym, she said to me, "I just couldn't remember their names right then."

Emma knows everyone's face; she remembers details about people. Emma is always there with a friendly word when someone is upset and is one of the most enthusiastic members of our class. She just can't always get people's names to come to her when she needs them. Particularly in a tense situation. Like when her teacher is saying over and over again to call the kids, call the kids, call the kids...

Way to go, me. I basically threw her disability right into her face and waved it around for good measure.

I was appalled at my insensitivity.

As the class continued down the hallway, I took her hand and guided her out of line. Then I kneeled down and looked right at her. I didn't know what to say other than: "Emma. I'm sorry."

She teared up, and I teared up. Then she gave me hug. We walked down the hallway to PE together and about half of the way there, she reached out and held my hand.

Everything is fixable.

Except I think tomorrow I'm going to try for not having to fix something I should have been more sensitive about in the first place.

a broken arm...

2010-02-01T19:46:00.002-05:00

Last week I broke my arm.

I broke my arm in a tap dancing class I take once a week. It was a rather spectacular fall (imagine, if you will, the craziest fall you've ever witnessed. Multiply it by four and then add a sprinkle of Chevy Chase. Now you're getting the picture.) and, naturally, I broke my dominant arm (I'm a lefty).

Apparently I just like to keep things interesting.

This has been interesting, eye opening, and rather annoying in some respects. One great thing about being a lefty is that I'm also pretty adept at using my right hand with a lot of things. You can't grow up in a right handed world and not absorb some of it. I can write passably well with my right hand. And by passably I mean that my writing looks like a very shaky first grader's writing.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

It's weird how writing, for me, has gone from something that I did all the time before to a very cognitive process now. I have to think when I write with my right hand; I have to concentrate on forming the letters and keeping the sizes relative. I even have to think about capital letters.

As much of a pain as this is, it has really given me a new found empathy for what some of my students are dealing with when they write.

And isn't it just like a teacher to turn a broken arm into a learning experience?

love will keep us together...

2010-01-22T13:18:00.002-05:00

In our classroom we listen to a lot of 60's & 70's music. (I know I've mentioned this before.) I play it during indoor recess, as the children come in in the morning, and sometimes during a work period when we need an extra little kick.

Well, today during a work period, children were working through their Task Sheet (a list of science/social studies work they are required to finish for the week), they asked for music, so I put it on.

As the kids were working, some of them were singing and the work was just humming along. Then, Love Will Keep Us Together by Captain & Tenille came on. This song has become a bit of an anthem for our class this year. We sang it at Morning Meeting one day in November, and they've since become really interested in learning some of the sign language to go along with the words. They love it.

As the song played, some kids sang quietly, but as soon as the chorus came on:

Stop! 'cause I really love you.
Stop! I've been thinking of you.
Look in my heart and let love keep us together... forever.

Every kid started singing.

They were all still working, some weren't even looking up. A bunch of them looked up and caught each others' eye or my eye and smiled. It was just this organic moment when music permeates something and makes it even better.

Okay, now I must confess that I have this fantasy...

Ten years in the future. My darlings are in High School. They're taller, gorgeous, and even more brilliant than they are now. They're at a dance and hanging out with their best friends in groups, chatting, dancing, watching others. They haven't talked about first grade in years. Most of them have totally new groups of friends. But then... Love Will Keep Us Together comes on (I know, I know, I'm not sure why some high school deejay is going to play this song at a High School dance ten years in the future, but just go with me on this!)...

Then... light dawns! A bunch of them click right back in. They remember the words! Some of them might even start singing (probably not), but they'll catch each others' eyes across all of the different cliques and grin with memories in their eyes: Don't you remember this song from first grade? Oh my god, I haven't heard this song in years!

And it'll be this lovely little moment where they realize how powerful music is. Well, and how awesome first grade was.

But that goes without saying.

writing epiphanies...

2010-01-11T14:36:00.002-05:00

Sometimes a new tool or routine in the classroom works so well that I'm both overjoyed and embarrassed that I didn't connect the dots and figure it out earlier.

So, writing workshop. I love it. They love it. It's a regular festival of love and writing. Of course, there are issues. Issue number one: the stapler. Ahh, the stapler. The stapler is awesome. You put papers in, press it down really hard (showing your muscles) and then voila! Your book is stuck together. My students would probably list the stapler as one of their favorite tools.

Some of them love it so much they want to use it a lot. Every day. Multiple times per day, if possible. One of my little darlings even wrote four books one day (four books!), just so he could staple each one together. Of course these books consisted of a cover and a single sheet of writing paper stapled together. Fun, yes. Numerous, yes. But quality writing... not so much.

In December, I told the children that we were going to take a break from the staplers. Not because they weren't being safe with them, but because I wanted to spend some time really working on the content of their writing: making it better, more interesting, more compelling to other readers, and then after we spent some time doing that we would bring the staplers back.

Simultaneously, I was also trying to devise a way to get the children to talk to each other more often about their writing. They were talking, yes, but it was along the lines of: how do I write this word? Or: can you help me make a bicycle in my picture? Now both of those are valid and important questions, and I don't want to stifle that. I just want to promote more consistent interaction about writing. I had grand plans of this great and gigantic checklist; I had thoughts of a huge poster detailing how to conference and talk about writing.

Then, last week, as I was getting the staplers full and ready to be returned to our writing station, I had an epiphany:

Incorporate both of them together: before the children can staple their book, they have to reread the book and share it with three other people for feedback.

So. Guess how it worked out?

If you said beautifully, you win! Because it was. It was like... take the two things you want to see happening and squish them together and hope for the best. It was the best. I saw children offering real suggestions to other students about their writing. I heard them asking each other questions about punctuation and word choices. I heard laughter and funny voices being used for dialogue.

It was like winning the teacher lottery.

Granted, it won't automatically stay this beautiful. We will still spend time talking about ways to conference and discuss writing with others. We will need to model and practice and refine that. But as for a way to get the kids to focus on content and interact more? This was perfect.

I'm rather embarrassed that I didn't put the two together much earlier.

running like Phoebe...

2010-01-11T09:55:00.001-05:00

How many of you used to watch Friends? Admittedly, I was a huge fan. My brother had videotaped the first and second seasons from the television and given them to me for my birthday one year. Friends was such a happy place for me for a long time. I still find moments in my life will remind me of something from a Friends episode, and I often continue to share quotes with my brother.

I was reminded of it again this morning, by the first graders. Did you ever see the episode where Phoebe wanted to go running in Central Park with Rachel? Where Phoebe ran all out, arms flailing and screeching when necessary? Here's a little clip as an example:

When my students get to the gym, our (amazing) P.E. teacher always has a poster up, greeting the children and telling them what to do for their warm up. Often they are directed to jog around the gym as they were this morning.

Well, Phoebe had it right on, let me tell you. That is exactly how my students run: all out, arms flailing, screeching and laughing, stopping and panting to catch their breath, and then starting all over again.

It's awesome. I think I may go join them the next day we have P.E.

what do the earrings say?

2010-01-06T18:52:00.004-05:00

I love my students.

I also know this is not news to anyone reading this.

This week I have been just reveling in their six-ness: delighted by the way they look at and interpret the world. I have several different examples, so I'll try to write them up over the next couple of days and post them.

Story the first:

Today my students were lined up at the Morning Message, reading together and waiting their turn to answer the question of the day. I was talking to a few at a time, marveling at their sheer level of awesome and chatting about various things.

Then Warner said, "Where are you going today, Miz F?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're wearing those," he said, pointing at my earrings. "Where are you going?"

"Ahhh," I said, understanding. "Here." I gestured around our classroom. "This is where I'm going. I thought I'd dress up for the amazing first graders. What do you think?"

"It's good." he said. Then he grinned. Enormously.

*~*

What a wonderful interpretation of why I was wearing earrings. I'm sure he's seen people in his family getting ready to go out somewhere special, wearing earrings or other fancy things. He saw my earrings and assumed I was doing the same.

And, for those of you that don't know me in person: I am not one of those put together, well accessorized human beings. I get by and all; I'm not hideous to look at. But I am not winning any best dressed contests. A sweater, trousers, ponytail, and danskos or keens (depending on whether my sweater goes with the red danskos or not)... that's about it for me. Well, and every third Wednesday or so I wear eyeliner. So, his interpretation was a pretty good one.

I just love that the special occasion for which I was decking myself out in earrings? Was a Wednesday with my brilliant first graders. ♥

goods and services...

2009-12-21T09:04:00.003-05:00

This past week our class has been learning about Goods & Services in economics. Every year this concept proves to be a little hard for my six year olds to grasp.

note: the language they use for the children is this:
Goods: Things people make or use to satisfy needs and wants.
Services: Activities that satisfy people’s needs and wants.

Every year when we first start talking about this, my gorgeous students get these looks of rather a lot of intense concentration, and then confusion on their face and essentially give me the old: "Um, awesome, Miz F, this is so great and yay learning and all, but, um... what in the ever loving world does all that mean?"

So, we act some things out. We tell little stories. We circle some of the words that make our brains go fuzz-buckets and define them. We do little projects. Eventually we get to this very basic distillation: things you can touch? Goods. Things you can do? Services.

Yes. So, that's not completely accurate. But a lot of the kids need a way of classifying consistently before they can start discussing or thinking more deeply and delving into the grey areas (Can something be both a good AND a service? whoa...)

Anyway, so my class is on their way to this place of classification right now. On Thursday when we were waiting for our reading buddies to arrive, we had a couple of minutes, so I said: "Alright, let's play Goods & Services!" I called out something (books! pencils! putting out a fire!) and the kids called back what it exemplified (goods! services!).

We do have a raucous good time in first grade, I tell you.

Later, in the library, our librarian was reading the children a story in which the two main characters had just done something and were "...carrying the tree inside..."

Immediately, Adin bursts out, "That's a service!"

Yeppers, ladies and gentlemen. Those are my students. Taking their learning beyond the four walls of our classroom. I do believe they might be completely awesome.

dancing...

2009-12-18T11:46:00.001-05:00

Every morning I play music as the kids are coming in. It's a mix of 60's and 70's music that is just awesome (Dancing Queen, Rockin' Robin, Love Will Keep Us Together, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, and etc...). We all love it. It's fun to bebop as we greet each other and do all of the numerous morning jobs.

I wait for the children in the hallway and greet them as they come in, but I can hear the music from inside. Often, I dance.

Okay, fine. All the time I dance.

This morning I overheard:

student 1: Look, Miz F is dancing.
student 2: She always dances.
student 1: Oh yeah. Look, Miz F is dancing again.

Guess they've got my number now. ♥

hermit crabs!

2009-12-07T21:36:00.004-05:00

We have hermit crabs! So much excitement! I brought them in on Friday and set up the tank.

Things they notice: "The shells are different." and "They have legs and claws and like to hide in their shell."

Things they want to know: "Can we please name them, Miz F?" and "Will they have babies?"

Things they want to do: watch them all day long and skip everything else.

My compromise: add a station to Reading time where they can observe and write questions.

So, I stayed after work today to rearrange a bit on one counter and make a more kid-friendly observational space. Here it is:

The empty tank on the far right is a gift from my work boyfriend, Angela. It will eventually hold fish, but probably not until January. I'm not sure the excitement level could take another notch right now.

Which is kind of awesome, if you ask me.

an open letter...

2009-12-07T14:40:00.000-05:00

Dear Social Studies Department Office,

I adore you. Over my tenure here in this school system, I have continually been impressed with your depth of knowledge, your professionalism, the resources you develop and provide, and the professional development you offer. In short, you're absolute Rock Stars. Capital R. Capital S.

Keep that in mind.

So, why then, when there is a new element to the First Grade curriculum this year and you've developed a great Make and Take workshop for teachers to create a good resource to bring to their classroom, why would you hold only one session? And limit it to 30 teachers? Aren't there are approximately six squillion first grade teachers in our school system?

Why, Social Studies Department, why?

I even went to register immediately after my SS lead teacher informed me of the workshop and it was already up to number 24 on the wait list.

*sniffles*

Don't worry. Our relationship will recover. I know it will.

I think I might need some Ben & Jerry's, though.

a long hallway walk...

2009-12-02T12:08:00.001-05:00

Our classroom is at the end of a long hallway.

Basically, our classroom is as far away from any other place in the entire school as you can possibly get (with the exception of a small area that abuts the street in front of us). Any time we need to go somewhere we always budget extra time. It's a long walk.

Today, my class had a vision screening. Some lady came to take half my class for vision screening and sent back three children at a time. Then she came and got the rest of the class and sent them back three at a time. For the long walk back from the vision screening.

So, when each group of three arrives back in the classroom, they're each out of breath and guilty looking and rather shifty. Do you know where I might be going with this?

Let me restate: our classroom is at the end of a long hallway.

Yeah, so I have to do the teacher thing and look at them and ask if they know what being out of breath shows? ("That we were running, Miz F.") I'm solemn and serious and they're each totally contrite and sweet and awesome, really.

To be honest, though? That's about as far as I'm going to take it. If I were six I would be all over a hundred and twenty foot dash down a long hallway when no teachers are looking. I totally get it. Plus, it's supposed to rain in about an hour and the sky is already looking menacing.

Good for them for getting some exercise while they can. ♥

my first grade writers...

2009-11-24T15:10:00.003-05:00

Writing from some talented writers today...

My mom is gonna get
me a nintendo (dintendo) DS... in
Walmart. I am delighted!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, he said delighted! We've been noticing some of the language in the books we've been reading and found "delighted" in one of the Henry and Mudge books.

I can ride it.
I ride it at the blacktop at
my house. My scooter makes
fire. It is a racer scooter.
When I ride it, I yell, "Rock on!" "Man!"

Yeah, okay, tell me you had such a writer's voice when you were six years old. I sure didn't.

I love Writing Workshop.

reading aloud...

2009-11-23T21:18:00.001-05:00

On Friday I cried in front of my class.

Okay, that's sort of an exaggeration. But I did get teary in front of them. And they noticed. They knew about it. In fact, they expected it. My friends, there are so many amazing books out there in the world. Tons of them. There are quite a few that I cannot read without getting teary. Dogger is one of them. The writing is lovely and well paced and real, and there is a moment where a sister does something so kind for her brother that I always get choked up. Children always respond to this book, too. They want to borrow it, reread it, examine the illustrations, and make some of their own.

But I can't just go reading any book willy-nilly to my students. Before I can read aloud a book where I'm probably going to get teary for a moment, I have to know that:

1. the kids will be okay with seeing me tear up. (They worry.)
2. our class is in a place where we can have moments of raw emotion like that
3. they're going to get something out of the story, too.

They did. ♥

Before we read, we talked about books we'd read over the year... books that had taught us how to predict, books that had made us laugh, had inspired our writing, had done a multitude of different things. I also told them that sometimes we understand the story or the characters so well that we almost feel what they are feeling. We talked about laughing and crying, about happy tears and sad tears and proud tears, and we talked about what we would do if someone did cry during a story.

We were prepared.

I don't quite know how to describe the feeling of reading aloud to children to someone that has never had 24 children hanging on every dramatic word, but believe me when I say it is magical. Good writing and good reading do this. Shirley Hughes so beautifully described the feeling and action of the main character that by the climax of the story, the children were absolutely still, some with mouths open and all with their eyes no where but on the lush illustrations, and none with a single breath in their mouth.

By the time the children realized that I had paused at one point not because I was being dramatic, but because I literally couldn't read the next words until I swallowed the lump in my throat, they knew exactly how I was feeling.

Because they were feeling it, too.

Reading aloud is such an intimate, exciting, beautiful part of the day, and on Friday they realized another important layer.

Hyung told me later, "I know why you cry, Miz F. I feel like it, too."

So, yeah. On Friday I cried in front of my students. But they were ready. We all were.

magic...

2009-11-12T16:18:00.003-05:00

It's coincidental that the 40th Anniversary of Sesame Street coincides so perfectly with my current train of thought... magic.

Not Harry Potter magic, exactly, but the sort of magic or thrill of belief in something.

Years ago, I was watching an A&E biography on Sesame Street. It was really interesting. They showed the set of the TV show. I remember seeing demonstrations of how the puppeteers did their work; I remember distinctly seeing how Big Bird's puppeteer did all of the amazing Big Bird work work. It was fascinating.

And yet, when it was over, I remember turning to my partner and saying to him, "That was awesome. I had no idea how much work went into all of it. But, you know what? There is still a part of me that's convinced that there is an actual Sesame Street. With Ernie and Bert and Grover and Linda and Bob. So, that was a really cool show and all. But there really is a Sesame Street. And that wasn't it."

No matter what I may know now as an adult, there is still the level of magic that I still hold onto. Because it is magic.

My students live the magic every day. I see evidence all the time. I'll give you an example. Every day, wen I go pick up my students at lunch, I bring Zed. Zed is a little zebra puppet attached to a stick that fits inside a cone.

I hold the cone and the stick, and can control Zed with the stick. Zed's story is that he comes out only when it's quiet; loud noises scare him and he goes back into the cone. I initially brought him down to lunch in the beginning of the year when some of my darlings were having trouble transitioning from the loud of the lunchroom into the quiet of the hallway. Zed helped a lot.

Plus, Zed is adorable and I can make him really look like he's peering over the top, or looking intently at a student, or if I shake the stick just right I can make it look like he's waving to the children.

They. Love. Him.

And they wave back. (also, so do many teachers if Zed waves at them in the hallway. ♥)

Recently Sandy realized that *I* control Zed. That he's a puppet. That when I push the stick, Zed comes out. That when I turn the stick, Zed turns around. That when I shake the stick, Zed waves. Sandy noticed this and started watching and telling some of his friends. He was obsessed with it for a few days. His observer eye was glued to my stick hand and he watched every moment, finding triumph in the fact that he was right! Miz F was controlling Zed.

I think he wondered why none of his friends, though, seemed as obsessed by this idea as he was, why none of them really paid any attention to it, even when he pointed it out to them. A lot. He'd whisper to Warner, "look, look! See how Miz F is moving the stick!" Or: "When she shakes it, it makes Zed do the wave at us!" His friends might nod, or look, or acknowledge what he was saying, but only in a polite 'isn't that nice?' sort of way.

About a week later, Sandy stopped paying attention to every movement I made with Zed on the stick. He now waves to Zed as we walk down the hallway; he watches Zed and not my stick hand. He smiles and grins and laughs along with the children as we head down the hallway to our classroom. Sandy knows the truth now, that I control Zed.

But I think he just prefers the magic.

halloween card...

2009-11-04T17:19:00.001-05:00

I can't say that I've ever received a Halloween card from a student before, let alone a handmade one. I'd say Caden has set the bar pretty high. I adore this card. ♥

when I wasn't looking...

2009-11-02T08:09:00.003-05:00

I was rereading this post this morning where I was reflecting on the disequilibrium of the beginning of the year. I always find it helpful to go back and reread previous posts both of my own and other teacher-bloggers that I appreciate. In the same way that different books/movies/articles inspire me in different ways depending on when I see them, rereading something about which I was thinking months or even weeks or years ago always gives me a fresh perspective.

The reason this hit me so profoundly this morning in my reread was that we're now somewhere around the 36th day of school. Our class has had eight weeks together and we are starting to find our feet. It struck me on Friday as I sat with a reading group and we giggled together when they realized that we have learned a ton of Quick & Easy words in the past three weeks, I looked out at the rest of the class. They were all working at different Reading Work Stations with their partners: reading, writing, talking, thinking.

Of course, I did have to give Caden a look to remind him to get back and focused, and there were a few other little teacher R's I did, but that's typical all through the year. All of the children were writing, reading, doing the work that we've practiced and thought about. They heeded the Stop sign (which reminds them that I am doing Very Important Work with the children at the teacher table) and solved any pressing concerns with their partner or another friend. They wrote and practiced words from our Word Wall, they worked on fluency in reading, the built words together with magnetic letters and Wikki Sticks. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was real.

I watched my class and realized that somehow, when I wasn't looking (and when I was), my amazing students became first graders.

What a beautiful thing. ♥

rethinking columbus day...

2009-10-12T20:15:00.003-04:00

I have the hardest time with Columbus Day.

In our school system, first graders have to learn about the Columbus Day holiday. To their credit, they no longer tout him as the person who discovered America, but instead say that he was "given credit" for doing so.

When I teach about Columbus, children usually have some knowledge about him already. We talk about his plan to find a western route for sailing to the east, and how his mistake taught people in Europe about lands they did not know existed. We also talk about how there were already people living in the places he landed, so he didn't discover a new land, but rather find land that many people hadn't known about before. I tell them that he didn't always make the best choices with how he treated the new people he met, that sometimes he didn't treat them well at all.

What first graders have to learn is simple: that Columbus Day is a holiday that celebrates Christopher Columbus, that he was given credit for discovering America, and that Columbus day is celebrated in October.

But Christopher Columbus is far from simple. The way he treated the Taino people that he came into contact with, the way he wrote about them as people that would make good servants... I don't necessarily think Columbus Day is the right holiday to be celebrating.

So, I face a professional dilemma every October: how do I make sure children get the knowledge that they're going to need for the future (and, let's face it, for the standardized tests they're going to have to take in a few years), but also make sure not to paint a saccharine, contrived picture of something untrue?

There's a wonderful website and resource - www.rethinkingschools.org. I don't spend enough time reading articles here, but there is a wealth of knowledge here. I've recently found another site: reconsidercolumbusday.org. It's not a well designed site, but there is a thoughtful video there that's worth watching.

So, I don't have any answers to this, mostly just questions. I wonder: how do you reconcile your own teaching dilemmas?

disequilibrium...

2009-09-24T18:06:00.001-04:00

I have a beautiful teacher's journal that a friend of mine gave me many years ago. It has preprinted pages, the front with several sentence starters, and the back with a place for more in depth reflection. Every time I take it out, I tell myself that I should write in it more, because rereading always gives me some insight into something else.

As I sit with this journal right now, feeling as many teachers feel by the thirteenth day of school (encouraged, bewildered, curious, enthusiastic, exhausted and possibly more), I'm struck by something. I have only written a handful of times and each time was in the very early part of the year. Each entry of mine is wondering about the children, about the group of beautiful young six year olds I have and marveling at how young they are. At the same time, in each entry, I mention missing my former students and yet being fully aware that I sent on children that were end of the year first graders, rather than the beginning of the year first graders that I have now.

Rereading my journal has given me such insight into this: the beginning of the year is a time of great disequilibrium (if that's even a word). It's exciting to build a community with a brand new group of children, it's exciting to try out new teacher learning that I did over the summer, it's exciting to have a fresh start. But it's also a time of learning routines and procedures. It's a time of practice, practice and more practice. It's a time of fun, oh yes, but it is surrounded by a lot of the less fun stuff. (Fire drills, walking in the hallway, walking safely in the classroom, finding out where we put our papers and how we take care of colored pencils, and etc...)

I never doubt the power and absolute necessity of the time we spend at the beginning of the year building our sense together of how we're going to take care of each other, the classroom, ourselves, and how we're going to learn together. It's exhausting, though, and I know it is for the children.

The children remember the end of Kindergarten and all that they did and could do in their classroom on a daily basis. I remember my students at the end of First Grade last year and how independent they were and the quality of their work and discussions.

You know what, though? The reason the students could do all of that was because I taught them how. We went through the same process I'm taking my new class through right now. The reason my current students were so successful at the end of last year was because their Kindergarten teachers taught them how to be successful.

So, really, I need to remember the end of last year as a reminder of what we will be like together (and already are at times) very soon.

In fact, just today we had a moment where we were all struck by something funny and had a lovely class moment together. It gave me a glimpse into what our class is going to feel like in a couple of months. It was kind of magical.

I can't wait.

class library...

2009-09-24T07:28:00.002-04:00

We opened our class library yesterday. We don't even have three shelves open yet and they're all so excited about it.

I have a lot to say about the beginning of the year, but I keep spending my time on family conferences and first grade stuff and not blogging about first grade stuff. I'll try to rectify that next week. I definitely miss writing.

conferences...

2009-09-16T21:21:00.002-04:00

I love Family Conferences.

Today I was meeting with a mom of one of my students and I asked what her hopes were for her son in first grade and in the future. She told me she'd like to see him be a doctor or an engineer or a scientist. We talked a little more and then she thought for a minute and said,

"But what I really want is that whatever he does is what he chooses. That's what I want for him."

I love Family Conferences. ♥

excellent mail...

2009-09-01T20:52:00.003-04:00

It feels vaguely apropos that I finally start writing in this blog again on September first. In the magical world, children have ridden the Hogwarts Express to school and are starting their year. In the Muggle world, many schools have started already, and in my case, teachers are back and the children come next week.

I'm so excited about the upcoming year, full of new ideas and busily updating old ones. I plan to post some pictures of my classroom set up progress -- I try to take pictures every year because it gives me such a sense of accomplishment to watch the room go from an empty space to a ready classroom.

For now, though, I'm just going to share the single most wonderful piece of mail I received this summer. One of my students moved this summer, and her mother emailed to ask if she could send a card she'd made to my home address.

This is the beautiful card I received:

My favorite part? The PS. Best. Post script. Ever. ♥

structure... taken away

2009-06-15T20:20:00.003-04:00

Today was our school's annual Field Day. Classes start at one game and move through stations every 12-15 minutes for a little under three hours. It's exhausting. It's hot. And it's very, very fun.

This was the first Field Day in several years, though, that I didn't have fun. Even though the children had practiced some of the games in PE, even though we divided ourselves into teams of five (even with little colored yarn ties around each child's wrist to help them remember), and even with a little strategy for one team to split if there were to be four teams instead of five... Even with a practiced "two whistle" signal from my whistle, even with a map looked at (well) ahead of time... even with several different lead up days with time for any and all questions the children had...

It was a hard day.

The kids mostly had fun, I would say. Also, luckily, we started and ended with a couple of fun water-relay games, which always put a big smile on people's faces. But, personally, I was miserable for most of it. Children were getting frustrated with games and taking it out on their teammates. Children weren't showing the empathy or respect for others that they have become so masterful at this year. I spent a large portion of the time redirecting children -- redirecting, redirecting, redirecting...

In our school, we spend a lot of energy on Previewing experiences -- we talk about what it will look like, what it will sound like... we discuss and practice how we will handle things that come up that aren't desirable, we talk about how to be assertive in situations like that, and we talk about how to celebrate and share joy in ourselves and in others. With 12 minutes at each place and 2 minutes to get there, we didn't have time to do that between stations.

My class is a particularly needy class this year (I did just reread this post from the beginning of the year again) and today they only had me going through this brand new experience of Field Day with them. Looking back on today and this year as a whole (and yes, there is a glass of wine here with me as I write this), it hit me just how much routine and consistency I built into the school day for the children. Not because I'm some sort of consistency or structure guru, but because they needed it. With that structure, they were able to be incredibly successful and independent. We did a lot of work together this year; we learned and laughed and thought and wondered.

But when all that structure was taken away, even with our relationships and the strength of our community, it fell apart. It was as though we were learning it all over again.

It was a hard day.

And I do wonder... what is there *to* be done for days like this? There will always be times when a predictable routine will need to change -- and the children were just happy, relaxed and quiet at the end of the day, remembering some of their favorite times from Field Day. I don't think it's necessary or even desirable to *not* have days like this. We need them! I just wonder what additional structure can be built in to make it even more successful for everyone.

Any thoughts?

sickness...

2009-06-11T10:54:00.004-04:00

One of my students had a fever last night, but seemed fine this morning, so his mother sent him to school, but called to let us know.

Well, by about 10:15, he looked exhausted and was burning up, so we took his temperature and it had shot up again. He just appeared at the door (the rest of the kids are in Art) with a buddy.

"I have to go home!" he told me, in tears. "But I want to stay! And learn!"

We gave him love as we got his backpack and sent him down to the clinic to wait for his mom.

I just thought... how amazing is it that kids in our school do everything they can to stay IN school, that they don't want to leave. ♥

problem solving...

2009-06-04T08:03:00.004-04:00

About ten years ago, when I taught Kindergarten, we opened a Conflict Corner in my classroom. It developed out of a belief that children could solve problems between them, and would if they were given both the autonomy to do so and the tools they needed.

Designating a space itself was a realization I had because several of my young lovelies were just not capable of solving a problem about the blocks if the blocks were right there. They needed to be separated from the problem in order to talk about the problem.

It was the sort of successful insight that I was so proud of having as a third year teacher. I was inspired by the ability to invent something that my children needed, simply by watching, learning, and knowing what they needed.

Of course, I was the tiniest little bit let down near the end of the school year when I discovered that it wasn't my invention after all, that classrooms in other schools had Peace Corners, Apology of Action spaces, and etc...

Ten years, two schools, and four classrooms later, I still always have a place in the classroom where children can go to solve problems. The needs of each class are different, as are the structures they need in place for the area. Some classes simply need the space, and the children are able to use and manage it with little to no support from me. Some classes need the ceremony of building an Apology of Action book, of developing the process for solving problems. Other classes, like my class this year, need a specific, but simple structure. (and how!)
This year, we have The Frog Carpet.

It's a space, right behind our classroom library, in fact, sort of in our classroom library, with a little frog carpet (ahh, we are clever titlers in our class) and a small pocket chart with sentence strips on it.

The sentence strips say:

Excuse me, ______, will you please come to the frog carpet?

When you _______, it ___________________.

I'm sorry, how can I help you feel better?

[high five, hug, special clap, short song, handshake]

These are the words that the class decided. I would have gone toward something a little more open-ended, but I mostly tried to keep my mouth shut as we talked about this, and pulled what I was hearing from the children.

I'm glad I did.

Since we put this into effect in February (much later than I should have), the incidence of: "Miz F, Marcella said/did/looked/ate/called me..." has gone down exponentially. Children use this space independently; they know that they can't use it during a lesson time (ie, at the beginning of Math), but that during a work period, it's fair game.

In classes past, I've needed a record keeping system because some children spent all of their time there, and this helped me regulate it for some of the frequent fliers. But in this class -- even with their need of this specific, almost rigid structure -- no one overuses it. In fact, I have kept an informal tally and each of my twenty-four lovelies has been there at least once. On a particularly rough day one of my students has gone four times (I counted), but my thoughts were: if he's having a rough day, and this is a tool that he has found helps him manage himself independently... well, why not?

It's kind of awesome.

NOTE: I do have a story from last week that really illustrates the power behind having a conflict space, but I also have about twenty minutes and report cards are calling my name (do you hear them?), so I shall type that up later. Peace out. ♥

illustrations...

2009-06-02T10:25:00.007-04:00

Some other glorious teachers at my school and I participated in a short online webinar several weeks ago with Katie Wood Ray. One of the things she mentioned that she's been thinking about and examining in student work recently is children's illustrations and how they can drive their writing.

I'm really looking forward to what she writes about this, because I've long found that their illustrations can be a rich, rich piece of writing. In mid-May, our class was reviewing what we'd learned about George Washington Carver. One of our learning experiences was that each child got their own copy of a book about Carver that our First Grade team wrote a couple of years ago. The children's job was to illustrate the book in a way that would let someone else who didn't know anything about Carver really learn it.

I love how different, yet detailed each of these illustrations are...

Each of these pictures is separated into two parts, with Carver studying science in one, and plants in the other. I just love the illustration of science here, with the test tube and the bubbles coming out. ♥

This student consistently likes to add labels to her illustrations -- she tells me that she thinks it helps the reader learn even more.

This one? Well, I just think the little excitement lines drawn over Carver's head in the second part of the illustration are nothing short of brilliant. I mean, it *is* exciting to study science and plants! I'll bet if Carver were to see this picture he'd agree that it's quite an accurate representation about how exciting it is to learn such things.

muscles...

2009-06-02T08:39:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, in the midst of talking about a book we'd just read, I was gesticulating wildly (as I am wont to do). Hannah watched me, then cocked her head and raised her hand, "Miz F, I saw your muscles. They're nice."

Good to know that while they're not as finely developed as those of my sister in law, or my friend (not)Angela Lansbury, or Ms. Swamp... they are still there. :)

elusive (as it were) standards...

2009-06-02T07:49:00.002-04:00

This number begins to consume my life during the end of May. To those of you that aren't elementary school teachers, 16 is a reading level. More specifically, it's the end of first grade benchmark reading level. Yes. This number is a Big. Deal.

This brings up a myriad of insecurities and judgments as I move toward the closing of the DRA assessment window: how many children will meet or exceed the benchmark? who didn't pass? what if I had just two more weeks? why didn't they pass? did I honestly and truly do everything I could have for [insert any child's name here]?

The self-doubt is exhausting.

Case in point. Ammir. Oh, heavens, he is a glorious child. This boy has been moving along in reading this year. His effort is stellar, his connections many. Everything we've talked about this year is right up there in his brain: schema, visualizing, making connections, digraphs, consonant blends, long vowels, short vowels, quick & easy words... all of it.

It's not quite automatic for him, though. If he confronts a word he doesn't know, and someone says, "well, do you see a consonant blend? or another part that you know?" he will always find something, and nine times out of ten, he'll figure out that word. So, he has everything that he needs; he just doesn't have it automatically yet. It doesn't always occur to him to ask himself those questions.

He will, though. This will come. Things will start clicking into place and he'll make sense of things rapidly.

But, as of Friday, he was reading at a level fourteen. This, according to my school system, is not passing performance. You see, children in our school system are expected to pass or be reading on a level 16. The kicker, though? Our children are expected to pass or be reading on this level by last Friday. School doesn't end for three more weeks.

Just to throw another little piece of information into this example, Ammir turned seven a week ago. Another one of my darlings that passed the level sixteen turned seven in December. Ailanya has five more months of existing than Ammir. When one is in their thirties, five months might not seem like a big deal, but that's nearly one-seventeenth of his life. If Ammir had those extra five months, I am confident that he would be well beyond a level sixteen. And yet, even though he was born near the end of the school year, he is still expected to fit into the same little box with all of the other children.

So, that's a bit of a tangent, I know, but I think it helps illustrate my mindset. In some ways, this standard is helpful, but in other ways it's quite arbitrary. It certainly doesn't paint the rich picture of who Ammir is as a reader or as a person.

Now, I don't disagree with standards, and I don't disagree with having a measure with which teachers can consult to guide instruction. Quite the opposite. But I do think that the very act of having standards automatically brings exceptions and places where the standard isn't going to be the best measure.

This is clearly one of those cases.

If I had my druthers, I would much rather write a full page narrative about each child during each grading period and use that to communicate with families and other teachers. It would take a lot more time, yes. But it would allow me valuable reflection on every student in my classroom and their progress and development as the months have gone on.

And it would certainly give a much more developed picture of a child than a single number ever will.

job advantages...

2009-05-11T13:54:00.000-04:00

I imagine that a disadvantage to having a job where you go to schools dressed up as children's book characters might be wearing that big, stuffy costume. There is also the limited vision and movement from the costume as you try to act out the book while someone else reads it.

Then again, when you're all done... you get to hug 100 children.

So, all in all, maybe not such a bad deal after all.

No, it wasn't me in the costume. But part of me wishes it were.

digging in the dirt...

2009-05-10T15:14:00.002-04:00

This morning I finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. This is the third time I've read it, but only the first time I've finished it. As with all writers that I love (and Kingsolver tops my list), I don't like finishing books because then... well, then they're over. To my mind, if I don't finish the book, then it's not actually done. Strange logic, I know, but it somehow works for me.

After breakfast, I went outside to attack our little sidewalk flower garden. After an April full of showers -- you should see the first grade April weather chart! -- and last week's insane amount of rain, the little garden was definitely worse for the wear, and in need of cleaning, pruning, and weeding. All of these I know very little about and could use a bit of a mentor in this area. It makes me long for my grandfather, who was an accomplished gardener. For now, though, I'm making it up as I go. We'll see how that works out.

As I dug out seed pods that had fallen from the tree above, pulled weeds, and tried to prune off bits of the dianthus plants that seemed spent or too long or just in need of a trim, I encountered bugs and spiders and earthworms (two!). Each of them made me smile, and I admit that I laughed in glee at the first earthworm. As I blundered through the garden I kept thinking: My students need to see this.

I think there is nothing more important in learning about life and life cycles and interdependence than to participate in it.

Now, planting pea seeds in clear cups so we can watch the plant and the roots is a good start. Believe me when I say that there is nothing more resonant than first graders discovering that their plants have popped up above the soil and the roots are growing down!

But, pea seeds in a clear cup inside the classroom don't ever get to interact with worms, and neither do six year olds. I want to build and cultivate a garden with my students. I want them to dig around in the dirt, to turn it, to weed it, to watch things growing above it. I want them to harvest greens and tomatoes and herbs and then make food that we've grown together. This makes me want a modified calendar school so we can be in school during part of the August harvest, or to at least have a garden already going that incoming students can help harvest, knowing that their first grade predecessors made the delicious foods available for them.

How, though?

I first would have to have more knowledge of gardening myself. A good friend of mine introduced me to square foot gardening, which sounds like it would work pretty well. We'd still need to build the frame, acquire soil & compost & seeds, and figure out how to keep it tended during the summer time when we're not in school.

None of these obstacles are insurmountable. In fact, I know it's very possible. I just need to find enough people willing to put in the time with me, to build it into the structure of our school so that it becomes sustainable and not simply a one person job.

Does anyone have experience with gardening at school? How did you/your school make it happen and how did you make it sustainable?

Or... does anyone want to come here and do it with me?

poetry work stations...

2009-05-07T21:36:00.006-04:00

Jenny wondered about some of the literacy work stations in our class that connect to the poem we learn that week. I've uploaded two pictures to show examples.

This one is our Pocket Chart Work Station. It's pretty simple: pocket chart, basket, pointer, envelopes. On a 9x12 mailing envelope, I glue a copy of the poem and then laminate the folder. I write the poem on sentence strips, then cut apart the words and put them into the envelope. At the work station, children have the choice of reading poems directly from the charts or putting together the poem and then reading it. This is a new(ish) station, as I haven't done it in many years. What I hope to do better next year is enlist the help of the children for other I can... ideas for this station. (example: include some Word Study as well...)

This station is very preparation heavy, but all on the early end. Once each poem has been made, it doesn't need to be made again, though words get lost every once in a while and need to be replaced. Here's how I make the tools for this station: First I print a copy of the poem (generally in 18 or 20 point font, Comic Sans or Century Gothic). I cut apart every word in the poem and glue them on brightly colored card stock. I also make a smaller copy of the entire poem for reference and glue that on the card stock as well. I laminate it (or cover it all with clear packing tape), then pour myself a glass of wine, for the next part is seriously tedious. I cut out tiny pieces of adhesive velcro (the scratchy hook side) and affix them to the back of each individual, laminated word, then cut each word out. See? Tedious. All the velcro words go into a ziploc bag along with the smaller copy of the poem that's been mounted and laminated.

I've made a couple of velcro boards on scrap pieces of cardboard by affixing adhesive velcro (the soft side this time) across it in strips. Though, really a piece of felt or a carpet square could serve just as well. In fact, we always use a carpet rectangle (ours are not squares) as the base for this station because it lets the kids spread the words out and keeps the words from sliding off the table. This is our Poetry Work Station.

The kids also get their own copy of the poem on paper that they illustrate and put into a binder. We call that work station Poetry Binders. There are many other options: putting a selection of poems on acetate for an Overhead Projector station, recording a selection of six or seven recent poems (or having the kids do so!) for use at the Listening Work Station, even creating mini stick puppets to go along with a poem and putting them into a Drama Work Station. All of these I've done before, but don't happen to be doing this year for various reasons.

Question to readers: what other literacy work stations do you use that you find the children enjoy and get a lot out of?

an organizational retro-fit...

2009-05-07T08:02:00.003-04:00

In our class, we learn a new poem every week. Some of them are songs, some of them are related to curriculum, and some of them are just for fun! We use these poems for a lot of learning experiences during the week, and the poems show up in different literacy work stations.

Organization of these poems has been a difficult, but over the past few years, I finally got smarter and hung the poems on hangers. That way, they're more accessible to the children and they're easier to store.

The problem? Once we get more than eight hangers on the chart stand, it's easy for them to slip off the edges as the children flip through.

So, here was my solution: masking tape a small block to the top of the chart stand so the hangers hit the block and don't slide off. Useful? Yes. Elegant? No.

Has anyone else faced a similar problem? How have you solved it? (Or, for those of you reading that may not have experience with this -- do you have any suggestions?)

little notes...

2009-05-06T17:37:00.003-04:00

There are some times where I'm working with a group of students and there is a Stop Sign hanging behind me. That means: Do not disturb unless there is emergency blood or vomit. (the very important corollary was added by the students). Now, there is also a very real six year old need to share Very Important Information like: "Miz F, my eye hurts!" or "Miz F, I can't find my pencil." at the exact moment that they become aware of this information. Quite regularly, my lovely students would have these important things to share with me right when I was in the middle of working with other children.

So we made a little plan.

Now we have a little basket of papers on my desk that say: "Note to Miz F" with a cute little frog on it. The purpose of these papers change as the year goes on because children use them for a new reason and then that one catches on, too.

The great thing, too, is that I already had the template for these notes on my computer. I've used them in my classroom for many years, but I generally don't bring them out until our class discovers a need for them. They don't even know they exist! But because their writing skills (and the desire to write) develop so rapidly over the year, first graders almost inevitably suggest having a place to write me notes.

This one showed up in my box this week.

Ms. F, The "I" in April in the Poetry Work Station is missing. Love, J...

EDIT: I find it!

I just adore it, particularly because she went back and edited it when she found what she thought was missing. Ahhh, first graders. I do so enjoy them. ♥

work vs. fun...

2009-05-05T05:57:00.002-04:00

Apparently this sitting outside and reading thing has become, well... a thing.

One night last week I was sitting outside after dinner, reading again, when my husband poked his head out of the window to see how I was doing. I held up my book and told him that it was still completely awesome, and that he should grab a book and come out and join me, but he said:

"I can't; I have to go upstairs and do a bit more for work."

"No!" I said. "No work! You're not allowed to do anything for work... um, I mean... only if it's fun!"

He laughed at me and I glared at him in mock-indignancy, "What??"

"I saw what you did there."

"What did I do?"

"You realized that you, too, were doing work, so you couldn't very well tell me not to..."

"I did nothing of the sort."

...

Yeah. Except I totally did.

In my defense, though, it was a really good teaching book that I was reading...

more structure...

2009-05-04T20:51:00.002-04:00

One of my first educational mentors once told me that he thought a very important aspect of teaching was becoming a "professional child watcher." Now, his language was most likely far more eloquent than mine (it usually was), but it still rings true on a very regular basis.

I've mentioned before how deeply my class this year has challenged me, how the children have taught me so many things and reminded me of others.

Their behavior over the past couple of weeks has made me sit back and reevaluate some of the things I've usually thought. When my students and I build our classroom community together throughout the year, I always think backwards. I envision where I want them to be, what I want the different learning and social times of the day to look like, what I want it to sound like -- I enlist this insight from the children as well.

Then I move from the goal back toward the beginning. I think: what structure do I need to put into place now that will enable us to get to our goal? I think about the structure that needs to be there to guide us all, structure that can be taken away as children take on more responsibility, more independence.

What I don't think I've envisioned so well is that the same thing is just as important for the end of the year. As we head into the last six weeks of school, it brings up emotions and insecurities and excitement for all of us. My principal describes the end of the year fidgetiness and snippiness as: "a family that's been on vacation together for too long."

Maybe what I've been missing in my evaluation and planning is the sense that structure within the classroom needs to be fluid, it needs to be able to ebb and flow as needed. Right now my class is showing me that they need more structure -- not in every area, certainly, but that they need just a bit more from me.

And if they're doing me the privilege of showing it to me... well, who am I not to oblige?

[NOTE: I would be remiss if I didn't point out this great post by Chip Wood where he mentions the very same thing, though with many more concrete suggestions. I do so adore learning from other educators. ]

organized chaos...

2009-04-28T20:54:00.001-04:00

When I was in high school my family owned and operated a restaurant. I worked various jobs at the restaurant over my years in high school and college, the most common being the front desk as a hostess (I can be quite charming at times).

On nights when the restaurant was busy, I often found myself highly stressed and not enjoying work all that much. It was too chaotic, too unpredictable.

My father, though? He loved it.

I distinctly remember making arrangements for several parties of two and four, sending another party to the lounge to wait for a table, escorting a party to their table and sending my father to seat another group. Back at the front desk, I took a moment to breathe, to look at the seating chart and do a bit of mental rearranging. I remember wishing I could fast forward through the next few hours so I wouldn't feel so stressed with seating and tables and numbers and checks and menus and organizing.

I remember looking up to see my father walking back from seating a party with his eyes shining and an enormous grin on his face.

"I love this shit!" he said to me in a voice full of pure happiness.

It was his place. And while I just tried to get through it, my father thrived on the chaos and unpredictability of nights like that.

In first grade today our Writing Workshop buzzed and hummed and twirled. We're finishing up non-fiction books about animals and my students have been getting ready to publish their stories on the computer. I'd signed out the laptop cart and set up eight laptops on tables, logged in and dropped the book templates into each student's folder so they could access it and start typing.

Eleven students worked on computers with various questions, excitement, and frustrations. Six children worked on the rug, trying to finish their own work for publication, while others were at tables around the room, doing the very same thing.

Computers froze, left arrow keys stopped working, papers were misplaced and exciting words were written. I probably walked a quarter mile during Writing Workshop today, moving from student to student, solving issues and having mini-conferences.

My hair fell out of it's clip and tickled my nose as I talked with one of my students who'd just finished typing her story. I looked around at the blissful chaos of my classroom and thought:

"I love this shit."

[Please pardon the profanity. I blame my father for the sentiment in the first place. I'm sure he'll take full responsibility. :) ]

thinking

2009-04-27T19:51:00.001-04:00

On Saturday I got to sit outside.

I was fighting allergies or sickness or some state of general non-well-being, so I stayed home while my husband went to visit with some friends and relatives. I took a shower, made some tea, and went to sit in our backyard and read.

It was the first sense of sheer contentment I'd felt in a long time. It wasn't too hot or too noisy. I wasn't forgetting a meeting or forgetting the tools for a teaching lesson. I was just reading.

On Sunday I'd finished my other book so I grabbed Study Driven by Katie Wood Ray and went outside to read again. Same feeling. The wind blew gently around me, rustling the leaves; birds flew around, hopping into the drip tray under our grill (what in the world are they finding there?), and I read.

I thought about writing. I thought about myself as a writer, I thought of Antonio's recent blossoming into a poet and then a non-fiction animal enthusiast, I thought of Leslie's recent foray into finding a clear and very funny voice as a writer. I thought of our first grade writing workshop. I thought.

The more I read, the clearer a picture I had in my head about where our class could go next in writing, and how we could help each other get there.

Today was Monday. What did I think about during my free moments today? I thought about exactly when I could get home so I could sit outside in my backyard and read. I still had ten more chapters to go in Study Driven. There was so much more thinking to be done!

When I got home today, after doing dishes and straightening up a few things, I did get outside to read more, to think more. I read another three chapters and felt refreshed. I felt inspired.

I've realized this: sometimes I am rushing around too much, getting this done, or that done; photocopying, cutting, sorting... And what I'm not doing -- what I'm not doing nearly enough -- is sitting. And reading. And thinking.

In the current educational climate, I know it's not an easy choice, but it's a choice I have to make more often. Thinking.

What a novelty.

observations...

2009-04-13T22:12:00.001-04:00

Visiting your writing workshop was the highlight of my day. The routines and procedures you have set into place clearly sets your class up for independence and success... [SNIP] ...While I listened to your students talk during writing worship, they were all talking about their writing and answering and asking questions of their peers. Today's experience reminds me of the importance of talk during writing. It was clear you practiced the level of noise since the students used appropriate levels during the session. I look forward to having our students share their writing with me.

Before spring break, my principal paid a visit to our classroom for an observation. This year I'm on the evaluation cycle, so she'll visit a few times throughout the year. The above was part of the feedback I received in my mailbox this morning.

As I read, I thought about our Writing Workshop. It is a busy, active time. We've worked hard to make it productive and fun, where the kids have a lot of their own direction and work really hard. Another person might sit in on our workshop and wonder why there is a lot of talking, why some children stand up a lot, why one boy only draws on Mondays, and etc...

I realized (again) how important it is to have administrators that understand child development and that regularly look for the positive in children, teachers, and classrooms.

It's a good thing.

writing positions...

2009-04-01T20:22:00.003-04:00

I just love the positions that children get into to write...

Don't you? ♥

my work boyfriend...

2009-03-16T21:13:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I have this teacher friend, not!Angela Lansbury. We'll just call her Angela.

We have a lot in common, and get along really well. I generally try to avoid going to chat with her in her classroom unless I have five hundred and sixteen minutes, because once we start talking, time seems to sink into this school-portal time warp that makes time go by extra-wicked quickly to the point where one of us says, "holy crap, is it really forty-seven o'clock??" and the other one says, "I didn't think the clock could GO that high..."

A big part of it is that Angela just "gets" me professionally. We have similar views on children, on teaching, and talking to her always helps give me greater perspective. We also do some extra curricular activities together: running a Dance club for some of the older kids, taking dance classes together, and going for lunch & giggles on teacher work days.

She's my work boyfriend.

I say this because one evening, a week or so ago, when the clock was doing it's school-portal time warp trick, Angela and I were sitting in her classroom, solving the problems of the educational world when the Speech & Language clinician poked her head in,

"Angela!" she called, "where's your other half?" (meaning the other teacher that works in Angela's room)

My immediate (internal) reaction was, "I'm right here!" with a strange sense of near indignation. Could she not SEE me? Sitting RIGHT NEXT to Angela??

Clearly having a close teaching buddy has some interesting implications.

I wonder if this counts as cheating on my husband...

love notes...

2009-03-11T20:09:00.006-04:00

This was a rather new brainstorm, though I don't know why it took me so long...

I now keep this little container on my desk. I pull out a note when one of my students has done something insightful, something kind, or just something that I want to note. I write a few lines about what I wanted to say, read it to the child, then have them put it in their backpack to bring home to their family that night. I've copied them all on brightly colored paper and so far I've been writing a few of them every day.

Hopefully I'll keep up the habit; it takes a very short time to write one, but I love knowing that the student for whom I wrote a love note is going to be able to share something great about themselves with a family member later on... plus, pretty colors and a great font -- how can I go wrong?

2009-03-09T13:57:00.003-04:00

I do think that six year olds in pajamas walking down the hallway with gigantic, anticipatory grins for Read Across America Day might be the eighth wonder of the world. ♥

extra-wet eyes...

2009-02-26T16:55:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week in my tap class, we were warming up to some beautiful stringed-techno music by a group called bond. I immediately thought of my students, who respond to music with such affection and appreciation, so I found the album on iTunes and bought it.

This afternoon as we were working, I put the CD on to inspire us. One of the pieces that the band plays is their own variation on Pachelbel's Canon -- it's beautiful. Well, during that piece I happened to wander over to hang out with my students at the blue table and they were all really quiet and looking at each other.

Benicio said, "That music. I know it. I love it."

They all nodded with him. Then he continued, "It makes me cry a little sometimes."

"Me, too," I admitted. And the other kids nodded. So, we all sat there for a moment or two, listening and looking at each other with extra-wet eyes.

I think sometimes we all need moments like that. I know I did. ♥

On Poetry -- days of happiness, day 7

2009-02-24T22:23:00.001-05:00

No pictures today, but tomorrow I'll make sure to take some photographs of my students' writing.

During the month of February, we've been studying Poetry. Now, I've been teaching for many years and I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never really explored poetry with my students. Sure, I've taught with poetry, and exposed children to some, but we've never really studied it, nor written it with any real dedication.

This has been an amazing experience for me. I've been using one resource in particular to help me, the poetry unit from Lucy Calkins' Units of Study for Primary Writing.

This resource is valuable in so many ways. First of all, there are more than fifteen lessons, planned and written, with in class examples of how a conversation might occur, as well as examples of conferring with students.

I find this so helpful, because it's really helped guide my own planning and instruction, and I've only used a handful of the lessons. Really, my class just needed to slow down, experience, and think about a few elements of poetry.

What I find the most helpful, though, is not the planned lessons, but rather the wise bits of advice sprinkled throughout the lesson... as little notes to the teacher. That has helped me immeasurably. She gives examples of conversations with children, but also takes a realistic view that while there are going to be amazing things that come from the children automatically, a lot of the other diamonds are uncovered through conferring, through conversation, through gentle guidance (through teaching!!). She cautions teachers not to get discouraged, but to find the small bits of brilliance in the children's work and help them expand on it, then teach others, so they're learning both from adult and young poets.

It's been a magical ride.

Well, and also a mundane one. An entire class of children does not sit down in Writing Workshop every day and create Priceless Pretty Poems. In fact, there's a lot of "pretty flowers" and "I loves" and "my shoe is green" -- but I've tried to see this as typical... to be their guide, as best I can, and help them find the small bit of a poem in what they've written and craft something from that. I can honestly say that each child has written something beautiful. The great thing, too, is they're starting to both emulate others and find their own style.

I'll try to give some examples of their work tomorrow, but for tonight I've just been musing, because we're winding down our study. In fact, the curriculum is bearing down on us, whispering "time to move on..." and "so much more to learn..." so we're working toward creating a class poetry anthology to immortalize some of their favorite work and then we'll move into another bit of study.

What I realize, though, is that next year, I need to immerse them in Poetry a lot more than I do, as well as spend as much time reading poetry as we do writing poetry. I want the kids to explore poets, read to and with each other, notice little nuances, and just live and breathe it. This time we swam in the writing, just not as much in the reading.

A good lesson for me for next year. :)

days of happiness, day 6

2009-02-23T21:28:00.003-05:00

I've mentioned before that I struggle with organization. Apparently I hide this well. I've had many people comment on how organized something looks or ask me how I make x or y or z look so organized, and I'm always surprised.

I'm convinced that I'm an organized person living inside a disorganized person's body.

So, any time that I try a new organizational method that works I'm always so pleased. From an amazing 3rd grade teacher at my school, I learned a simple, but easy method that has worked really well for me. She has several tubs on one of her shelves, each labelled with a different subject area. She puts books, notes, copies, lesson plans, anything that fits that subject area that she's currently teaching, it goes in that tub.

For me? Perfect. I hauled out four brightly colored (this is important) containers, labeled them with pretty fonts (again, very important) and stuck them on my windowsill. It's been... well, almost magical, to be honest.

You see, I suffer from the "oh, mother of crap, I just had it in my hand, where in the *^#@%$ h#@%$ did I put it?" disease. But this -- this is helping! Now, everything just goes into those buckets and I can always find it.

the buckets!!

(note: the coffee pot. Also very important.) This is right behind our math shelf, so it blends with kid tools as well.

This is where I keep my plan book and the stack of file trays that only live there because I haven't figured out a better method of organizing those papers yet.

I imagine I'll need to sit down and cull the contents of the buckets every few weeks or so, but that actually doesn't sound like too much work.

days of happiness, day 5

2009-02-22T21:44:00.003-05:00

I love drinking tea in the afternoon or early evening. It's relaxing and a welcome ritual. I love it so much that sometimes I serve (herbal) tea to my students. Today I was musing on the most recent time. In December, our class finished writing individual How To books and we had a writing celebration at the end. We all sat in a circle and everyone read aloud a small excerpt that was their favorite part, then we raised our cups of tea and gave a toast, "To writing!" then we had a reception. During the reception, children walked around sharing their books with each other and asking each other questions and drinking tea. Many of them found that the tea was not to their liking (I told them that was okay, not everything will be), but everyone tried it. It was truly amazing to watch how seriously they took our reception -- not serious as in stoic, but serious in terms of talking to each other, trying the tea, and being genuinely excited about our writing.

Our Poetry writing focus is winding down -- I can't wait to have our writing celebration for that!

This is (nearly) every class picture from my years of teaching. Earlier this year I thought that I might have misplaced some of them, but today I discovered that I have every one. It's exciting to have so many, and to remember such vivid things about each class when I look them over.

I would love to hang them all up, but I'm not sure the best way to do so. Any suggestions?

days of happiness, day 4

2009-02-20T21:35:00.003-05:00

See, the county where I work a lot more money than I'm used to. And schools have things in their teacher workrooms that never fail to amaze me (a laminator?? that we can use when we need to instead of on Tuesday afternoons? More than one copy machine?? Multiple paper cutters??). Believe me when I say that I've still not lost my appreciation for these things. Anyway, our school has an Ellison die cut press and many die cuts (alphabet and various shapes), but just this week we got a set of die cuts that cut out PATTERN BLOCKS!!! This is more than exciting because before I'd always spend time photocopying and then many hours cutting out pattern blocks so that we'd have enough for the kids to use to save work they'd done. Now!! Now, we can just use the Ellison press. Ahh, glee. I do so love how you feel.

These? Much prettier and about a thousand times cooler, but mostly self explanatory. We're working on consonant blends. In the past, I've just put up these key word cards, but we decided to make posters with the kid art illustrating the pictures and they're just GORGEOUS. *looks more* (did you see the "weeeeee!" ???)

days of happiness, day 3

2009-02-19T21:37:00.003-05:00

I wish I could show you the entire picture, but I think this well demonstrates their body language. Look at the curled up posture and hand in the air of the one in the green pants. His hand was twirling in his hair and his grin stretched across his whole face. Similarly, the jean-clad older student was flushed and grinning, with his hand clenched happily on his lap. And all because of some cross-grade level reading. Today we went down to one of the fifth grade rooms for our first time Reading Buddies. My first graders were simultaneously jazzed out of their skin and totally nervous and awestruck by the hugeness of the ten year olds.

Reading buddies, though... oh man. Words cannot describe the beauty of watching younger and older children reading together. A big part of it, for me, is the fact that while I know that a teacher can do a lot, there are things that older kids and younger kids can do for each other that I can just never do.

Remarkable, really.

The fifth grade teacher [I need to get her to pick a name ♥] and I were both awed by the beauty of it.

Also, both classes are now clamoring for a repeat performance. *pulls out calendar*

days of happiness, day 2

2009-02-18T18:22:00.004-05:00

day two of things that make me happy (with pictures)

More math. If you read the problem my students solved yesterday, you'll note that the solution to the problem was 60. Yesterday I'd challenged Antonio to figure out how many shakes it would be if two people did the energizer. So, he ran out of time yesterday but today he asked if he could work on it.

Not long after, he came to me to tell me that it was 120 shakes, because he knew that "40 was inside 60 and there was 20 left" and that he also knew that 60 and 40 made 100, so 100 and 20 was 120.

Yup. My students, ladies and gentlemen. Showing brilliance on Wednesday afternoons.

This one I love because of what came out of it. My class has really grabbed onto the idea of squishing words together. We use it to encourage word play and the use of other words to help them spell new ones (ie, if you know how to spell "make" you know how to spell snake and rake). Sometimes, at Morning Meeting, I might put the Greeting and Activity together, and we call it a "greetivity"

This afternoon we were clearing off the easel so we could put up our cooperative posters to share. The easel looked like this. Then Nijjar said, "don't forget to move the fragnet."

"The fragnet?" I asked.

"Frog. And magnet. The fragnet."

hahahahahahahaha, yes! How did I not think of that?

lightbulb moments

2009-02-18T08:43:00.001-05:00

Masonhall made a good point here on her blog in talking about different types of reading. She had an a-ha moment when she realized that her 5th grade students might not know how to read a magazine, so she did something about it.

It reminded me of this post I made back in November about my students getting interested in reading Mr. Putter and Tabby books on their own and checking them out of the library to read at home. As a corollary to that, I thought the students might find as much joy out of the Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant and started recommending them to my students.

Didn't work.

Well, it worked for Lanie, who pretty much takes my word as the gospel, but the others? Not in the least. They nodded and smiled at me as I told them a bit about Henry and about Mudge, basically giving me the 6 year old equivalent of a pat on the head, and then went and checked out other books.

Well, it took me another week to have the *lightbulb* moment of: "If I want them to enjoy these books, I can't just tell them about the books, I have to read to them!"

So, I did.

And now? Every Wednesday, the library supply of both Mr. Putter and Tabby and Henry and Mudge books is well depleted by my class.

Awesome.

days of happiness, day 1

2009-02-17T22:22:00.002-05:00

In various places online, I've seen the 8 days of happiness meme (I don't remember exactly what it's called). Essentially, for eight straight days, the blogger posts something from the day that made them happy. I think I'm going to try to do this -- but with photos! Much more interesting!

My desk drawers aren't always clean, but I try very hard to keep the top of it clean and uncluttered. It makes me feel more centered and I can get work done there. score!

This math solution just rocks my world. With my class, I do a lot of "energizers" -- little songs/activities to wake us up when we're getting a bit glazed over. One energizer is the 5-4-3-2-1 shake, where we shake our left hand five times (and count to 5), then shake our right hand five times, then left foot, then right foot. Then we do them all again with 4, 3, 2, and then 1. Well, in Math today, their challenge was to figure out how many times they shook their hands, how many times they shook their feet, and how many times they shook them all. The kids could use whatever tools they needed to solve the problem and they could work independently or with a partner.

They had some truly amazing strategies for solving they problem, which they also were able to explain to others. This image I love because you can see they used tally marks, but ALSO made groups of 5 with the tallies so they could count them easier, then they used groups of ten to count 30 + 30.

This is the kind of thing I always want to show to people when they claim that public schools are failing and horrible places for children to be. Not in my classroom, ladies and gentlemen. Not in my classroom. ♥

on writing...

2009-01-27T11:49:00.002-05:00

Something I think about...

Why have I taken so well to blogging?

Just recently I was looking over a bunch of my blog entries from November -- a month where I'd committed to (and succeeded!) blogging every single day. Rereading many of the entries re-inspired me, both as a teacher and a blogger. I think one of the reasons it was so empowering was because I was thinking, reflecting again about things that were on my mind in November.

When I was younger I would sporadically write in a journal, but it was never a habit I could develop or maintain for any length of time.

Yet somehow this idea of SHARING writing in blog format has really clicked for me. I don't know if it's the idea of it being public, or the idea that friends and family might read something and come to me to talk more, but something about it makes me aware of what I write in a way that I never was before. As a teenager, sure I was worried that someone might find and read my private thoughts, but I was vaguely aware that I didn't know who my audience was. Was it me? So if it was, why bother to write it down when I could just think it? Now, though, while I write knowing that others might read (which I both love and encourage!), I think I've realized that my audience is, well... me.

As a teacher, so much of my day is spent by myself with my students. One a particularly full day, I might have another teacher with me for two hours, tops. Generally, though, it's my students and me for 90% of the time. So, that's a whole lot of just me to grapple with. When I take the time to write out something about which I'm wondering (academic choice) or something that amazed me, or something I needed to feel... it's out there for me to read, later on. It serves so many purposes, not the least of which is reminding me why I teach, why I love it in spite of the things that dishearten and discourage me. Also, when I reread, it's often just me thinking with myself.

So, maybe that's exactly why I've taken to it so well. I write with the idea that I'm talking to my future self, in anticipation of further thinking.

Whoa.

2009-01-22T04:55:00.003-05:00

random housekeeping:

I have an email attached to this blog now: skirted.blog [AT] gmail [DOT] com. It's an easy way to get in touch with me if you'd like to contact me privately, rather than commenting.

Second, due to the brilliance of Swampy, it's now possible to receive email notifications when I put up a new post. If you go to the main page of my journal -- here -- you'll see a subscription box in the top right. Type your email, follow the directions, and voila! Messages in your inbox when this blog is updated. Ain't technology grand?

And, yes, this is mostly for my family. ♥

professional dilemmas

2009-01-21T18:08:00.004-05:00

A professional dilemma I keep facing:

How do I balance what I truly believe is right for children with the ever-increasing expectations (and standards and mandates, etc...)?

How?

One example: this class. They love books. Love them. Now, it's not odd for children to love books. In fact, it's quite rare when they don't. But often, even during a read aloud, many children zone out, fidget, and etc...

But not this class. Nope. They are many things: young, loud, varied, talkative, curious, challenging -- but if ever I want to regroup them, to calm them down, to amaze them... I read a book. It's amazing to watch. Really. They are always mesmerized. PIcture books, nonfiction, chapter books -- anything. We have two read aloud times per day but I've been trying to find time for at least one or two more.

But, oh... the guilt...

In order to carve in 1-2 more read alouds, I would have to take time away from another subject area. This worries me because there is just so much packed into the curriculum that they have to know (to be tested on in grade 3) and if we don't do it, they might not get it at any other time.

And yet I keep thinking: what is more powerful than delving into literature? What is more powerful than talking, discussing, wondering, counting, thinking, feeling? Should I really have to justify reading aloud more often when my students get so much out of it?

In my heart... I just don't think so.

the world is just awesome

2009-01-20T11:13:00.000-05:00

It feels rather apropos that I finally get back to blogging today. I've missed the chance to sit and write and think. Also, that I share someone else's project -- because isn't teaching often the sharing of amazing things that other's have done?

This video is Matt Harding, traveling over the world and dancing a little dance in countries all over the world. It's absolutely incredible. It had me in tears. I want to hug this guy and then dance with him and everyone in the world and then hug him again.

I can't explain why this affected me so... maybe just because it reminded me again of the fact that no matter where we go, we're all just people... humans that laugh and cry and dance and sing.

It's rather amazing to watch people doing so together.

So... watch. And dance. Then come back here and I'll dance with you, too. ♥

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

[the link is here in case the embedding doesn't work]

Happy Inauguration Day!

a good lead...

2008-12-17T21:34:00.002-05:00

In my class we've been writing "How to" books to teach someone else how to do something. The students write/draw a plan, then check their plan with a partner, then use the plan to write their book, then meet with a friend to read/revise/edit the book, then they get to type the book on the computer and illustrate the printout for a published copy! We make a copy -- one to take home and one to keep at school.

Well, after we'd been working on the first three-four steps, our class started looking at and talking about writing a good lead to "catch" their reader so they'll want to read more.

Every year, I follow this process with the students and always find it so amazing. First of all, for many kids, the simple act of there being a very clear process to follow takes away some of the stress or writer's block that they may sometimes feel. Secondly, there is a very clear product -- a book that they published! -- which is satisfying and motivating (and pretty exciting!).

It also lends itself well to starting to talk about our other writing work and how some of the same procedures can be used to make other writing (ie, not "How to" stories) even better and more interesting.

Well, today Ammar finished illustrating his book, How to Ride a Bike, and decided to look in his writing folder to see what other unfinished pieces were in there. Not too long later, he came to me with wide eyes,

"Miz F," he told me, in sort of breathless amazement, "did you know that you could also write a good lead in other pieces to get a reader to want to read that one, too?"

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, those are my students. Figuring this writer thing out all on their own. Something tells me I'm going to learn a lot from them this year.

♥

carpet work...

2008-12-16T21:58:00.005-05:00

I just love watching children work on the floor. Don't you?

one but not the other...

2008-12-15T18:49:00.002-05:00

So...

I have conjunctivitis (but not too bad or too contagious that I can't go to work tomorrow). But!!! I don't have lice. This pleases me because lice skeeves me out more than does conjunctivitis. I've had both (several times... ahh, the perils of being around beautiful, brilliant, young germ carriers) and I'd pick the eye one over the hair one every day.

I guess "neither" just wasn't an option for today, eh?

How are you all? ♥

success!!

2008-11-30T21:32:00.001-05:00

This marks my last post in November. As of right now, I've done it. 30 posts in 30 days. Holy pajamas.

I took on this challenge to get myself more in the habit of blogging daily and I'm so glad I did. I started thinking more in terms of writing. I don't think I would have necessarily made so many connections between my daily life and its impact on teaching had I not had the underlying knowledge that I would be writing every day. I really appreciated the chance to get myself thinking about writing and sharing and audience every day.

On the other hand, I didn't accomplish one of the things I thought I would, namely, finishing some of the half written reflections that are lingering on my computer.

Over the past few years, I've discovered that I am a slow writer. I think part of that might be because often I write to reflect on something. If I haven't yet gotten "there" with a thought or an idea, then the writing stays unfinished until I do.

Similarly with this blog. There are very specific teaching or education subjects about which I've been ruminating for weeks or months now (curriculum requirements, teacher expectations, government involvement, inequity) and haven't made their way here into my blog because they're not yet finished thoughts.

In taking on this challenge, I expected that I would somehow complete everything in my finish this folder. Silly me. In my writing life, nothing is ever finished until it's ready to be, so I should have expected the same.

I do expect to finish them one day, but this has proved to me that even a commitment to daily blogging won't make me write something that isn't yet ready to be written. Interesting to undertake different experiences to learn more about myself, though, I must say.

To those of you that have followed this November journey, thank you so much for doing so. It's been interesting to meet some new people during the month and I'm looking forward to continued connections.

See you all in December! (um. decidedly less often, though.) ♥

academic choice...

2008-11-29T21:52:00.002-05:00

One of my teaching goals this year is to deepen my understanding of, my experience with, and my all around knowledge base with Academic Choice (one element of the Responsive Classroom). This element involves a three part process for children (planning, working, and reflecting) which builds upon children's natural curiosity and allows them a sense of autonomy as they make choices about their learning.

I've discovered that I'm pretty good at building Academic Choice into a culminating activity, a chance for children to showcase what they know. For example, just last week in my classroom we had Academic Choice time related to Benjamin Franklin. Children are expected to learn three specific pieces of information about him, so those were the three 'have to' elements of their work, but they were able to choose both the mode of representation as well as whether they showed other pieces of what they learned about him.

This was the planning sheet. Several children used the back to draw some of their ideas in the morning when they used this planning sheet. We planned and made our choices in the morning and used our time in the afternoon to get right to work. This way, children had some time to think about the work before they did it so they could have the full time for working.

This is the second year running that I've run these types of Academic Choice projects and I've always been really amazed at the depth of the students' work. My struggle is conceptualizing Academic Choice as an ongoing, daily activity. Children have a lot of choice in our classroom, but I want to figure out how to include all three componentsinto something that's more ongoing, rather than only with culminating activities.

As I try various things on this journey, I'll share them. Also, for those of you that are also part of the Responsive Classroom approach, what have you found helpful in your own journey with Academic Choice?

Mr. Putter and Tabby...

2008-11-28T22:02:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday, we read Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea. It's the second book about these two characters that our class has read and I can't say enough about how enjoyable these books are and how much my students love them.

Reading them is a unique experience because they have underlying themes that adults connect with and are so drenched with love that children just adore them.

That afternoon, at the library, eight of my children checked out Mr. Putter and Tabby books. Eight.

Guess it's about time to put a basket of Mr. Putter and Tabby books into our own classroom library...

thanksgiving

2008-11-27T22:13:00.000-05:00

It's the tail end of Thanksgiving here in my house; we hosted sixteen people this year. Some have gone home, some are sleeping here, but we were all well fed, well conversed, and rather sated. Whenever I spend time with my family I'm always thankful for them, even the idiosyncrasies and odd uniqueness of us all.

Similarly, I find myself quite thankful for the internet and blogging... this ability to write about oneself, one's thoughts or struggles or successes... to find others out there with similar interests, with similar goals... to learn about each other... to learn from each other.

It's rather amazing when I think about it.

So, tonight, on this late hour of Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for the connections I've made here online, for the opportunity to both talk about teaching and read what others have to say. Have a wonderful night. ♥

class books...

2008-11-26T14:12:00.000-05:00

I love watching the absolute hush that falls over my students when we premiere a book that our class has written...

I think part of it is the excitement of seeing the page that they made and the joy of seeing those by some of their best friends.

I think another part of it is being able to relive an experience or remember and connect to some learning they have already done.

Whatever reason it is, though, it is absolutely beautiful. Sort of makes me want to do nothing but make books and read them aloud all year long.

my six year old artists...

2008-11-25T10:27:00.001-05:00

Our principal has been on maternity leave since August, so our Assistant Principal has been the Acting Principal and we had a retired principal as our Acting Assistant Principal (so many titles!). Well, our principal will be coming back from maternity leave after Thanksgiving so we're preparing to say goodbye to the man that has been our AP for the past many months. The kids are really going to miss him.

In our class, we like to make cards. We make them for every child on their birthday (think of how amazing it is to turn seven and go home with an envelope full of brightly colored cards created by and written by every person in your class!) and for other people on other occasions, as well.

For our AP, we decided to make the cards a two day project. Yesterday we pulled out the watercolors to paint the front of the cards and today we will write special messages to him.

As I was laying out the cards to dry yesterday, I was struck by the sheer beauty of them. They're so varied in design, in what the children chose to create. Really, any of them could be framed and hung up on its own. So, I assembled them and took a photograph to share here.

Beautiful, aren't they?

watching the children...

2008-11-24T21:13:00.003-05:00

Over the summer I made several posts while I was setting up the classroom. There was one area of the classroom that was rather an experiment -- this one:

note: you can click on any picture to make it bigger

You'll see our library area and a table over to the left. The table was very close to our meeting area (which we use for everything) and I wasn't sure if it would end up being a good spot for the table.

It wasn't.

With about six more bodies than the meeting area is used to, and with the needs of these students as they are, the kids needed more space and needed some other spaces to be more defined.

So, in October I moved the table and closed in our library area a bit more. It's worked out really well and the kids love it. The library is one of their favorite areas of the classroom (notice the two funky chairs there. That also helps.)

So, now the area looks like this: (pardon the blurriness)

Here is a better picture of the library:
The space is more defined with the small bookshelf jutting out, the chart stand with poems we've read, and the two funky chairs. Behind the waterfall bookcase we keep carpet squares, and will eventually be a Conflict area for the children to go and resolve problems together. I also keep the projector there out of the way, but it's easily retrieved for when we need it.

And a view from far away where you can see the easel and the (messy!) tools underneath that we use for almost everything. (We sit by the easel a lot!)(random: If you see the white tape on the floor where the funky chairs are, it's actually a guide for the kids so they know where to put the chairs so they don't get in the way.)

One thing I miss is the pretty curtains over the area, because it looked so lovely, but it just doesn't seem to make sense to keep the curtains and cover up the books...

Heh.

So, all in all, it was a good experiment to learn from. Having a table there might work for a different class, or for this class at a different time. Just not now. I like watching and learning from the children.

who's calling the shots?

2008-11-23T15:44:00.001-05:00

We're in the midst of cleaning and straightening our house to get ready for Thanksgiving. In my flurry of pile decimation and dust attack, I found this book: Who's Calling the Shots: How to Respond Effectively to Children's Fascination with War Play and War Toys by Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Diane Levin.

I read this book more than ten years ago and found it incredibly helpful in thinking about how to support my students in their dramatic play. I think I'm going to stick it on my bedside table and re-read to see what jumps out at me during this read.

The first time I read it, the biggest thing that stuck with me was giving the children the chance to engage in the war play they were going to do anyway. I'd always thought it made sense to tell the children not to use play guns and always stopped any bomb or gun talk when I heard it. What I remember from this book was the fact that it advocated being there when children were beginning to engage in talk of guns and bombs and shooting in order to ask questions and direct the conversation, ie:

student: Boom! Bang! The bomb just fell on the building!
teacher: Oh no!
student: What?
teacher: What about the people inside? Where is the hospital?

and etc...

This was from a conversation that I actually had with a kindergartner years ago. We ended up using blocks to build a hospital and used a Matchbox car for an ambulance and we made sure to bring the people to the hospital for care. The point I remember from the book, was that often children need someone else to help make the consequences of various things explicit, because they don't always make the connections themselves.

I feel sort of like a fraud, recommending this book that I haven't read in ten years or so, but it was such a helpful guide for me, and I'd hate for it to get lost among all of the books being published now.

Also, I wanted to share this recipe for Play-doh that I found in this book. It remains, hands down, the best play doh I've made in all my years of teaching. It takes a little longer, because you have to cook it, but it is well worth it.

Cooked Play-doh
3 c flour
1 1/2 c salt
2 T cream of tartar
3 T oil
3 c water
(a few drops of food coloring or 1 t tempera paint -- mix this into the water if you want to color the play doh)

Mix ingredients in a large pot and stir over low heat until the mixture starts to thicken like mashed potatoes. Then, remove from the heat, scrape into a bowl or another pan and let it cool. When it's cool enough to touch, knead for a while with your hands. It keeps for a long time in a sealed container.

Enjoy!!

button thoughts...

2008-11-22T21:11:00.002-05:00

This afternoon, we were getting ready for a wedding and my husband looked at the shirt I'd put on, shook his head, and commented,

"I could never understand why women have buttons down the back of their shirts..."

It reminded me of a conversation I had years ago with one of my kindergartners. At the time I was wearing a long dress with buttons down the back. Our class was getting in line to go outside and there were a few of us waiting by the door for everyone else to finish cleaning. This student, Jaime, looked at my dress, and then thought for a while.

"Miz F?" he asked finally. "Do you live with your mom?"

"No," I told him. "I have some roommates that I live with. They're teachers -- remember I told you about them?"

"Yeah," he hedged and kept looking at my dress. There was something clearly on his mind, and it took a moment or two for it to click in for me. It did just as he asked,

"Then who buttons your clothes?"

I remember telling him that most of my clothes I buttoned myself -- and that this particular dress didn't have to be unbuttoned, but could be pulled over my head, like a shirt -- but if there was ever something I couldn't put on, I'd probably ask a friend for help.

I'd long forgotten this conversation, but it came back to mind today and made me smile because it's another example of the way that children's minds work in such interesting ways. So often, there are these puzzles that they try to figure out, and Jaime was clearly trying to figure out how I got my clothes buttoned when the buttons were in the back. He couldn't figure out who did it so he had to ask.

I think also, because that sort of thinking was so uniquely Jamie, it's a story that I've kept in my mind.

It does make me wish, though, that I'd started keeping a more frequent teaching journal years ago. How many stories have I let go of because I didn't write them down... how many learning opportunties have I forgotten about...

Guess it's a good thing I'm trying to do this now. ♥

journeys...

2008-11-21T21:42:00.004-05:00

Another quick post, because it's nearly 10pm and I am absolutely knackered...

We took a field trip today (I'll talk more in a future post), and one of the things that I was reminded of is that often, the journey is just as memorable for the children as the actual destination itself.

Today we went into Washington DC to visit the Capitol Visitor Center (before it officially opens to the public, no less!). It was brilliant, cold, exhausting and exhilarating.

When we got back to school and were drawing what we'd seen, just as many children drew pictures of what they'd seen on our bus ride as drew pictures of something from the Capitol itself.

Which, honestly, sums up a lot of what I believe is important in teaching and learning. It is so typically the journey in learning that is the most powerful, where the most growth and reflection occurs. Outcomes and destinations are fine -- important, even -- but certainly not more so than the rich journeys toward that outcome. I invite anyone to think about something they achieved and reflect upon the journey it took to get there. Probably? An important story lies within...

2008-11-20T20:03:00.002-05:00

Maybe... just this one time... I can come home from work and do nothing related to work for the rest of the night.

We'll see how that goes.

♥

little mountains...

2008-11-19T17:06:00.001-05:00

Years ago I had a little girl that was on the playground, sitting on the bench and looking at her fingers.

"Look, Miz F," she told me, putting the tips of her pointer fingers and thumbs together. "When I do this, it makes a little diamond."

We talked about that for a long while, looking through the little diamond to see what we could see, even convincing some other kids to try it in the process.

What I took away from that experience (other than glee) was a reminder of how young children, almost above anything else, notice things. They are experts at it. They notice with their ears, their eyes, with how things feel, how they taste... anything. Everything.

I was reminded of this again today while walking back inside from recess. We were taking a short cut across the field when Rubiah turned to me and said,

"It's really bumpy under my feet. Like little mountains."

As I walked, I could feel what she meant. It has gotten a lot colder, so the ground is much harder than it used to be. Under my feet I could feel bumps and little ups and downs.

"It does feel like little mountains, doesn't it?" I said. "I wonder what it would feel like to a bug or an ant..."

"Probably like big mountains!"

How wonderful to hear such unique six year old insight into things. I love being reminded how interesting and intricate their minds are. ♥

what's in a name?

2008-11-18T16:17:00.006-05:00

Currently, we're studying timelines in our class. The assignment was to cut out the pictures and put them in an order that would show a person's life. After students cut and arranged the pictures, I encouraged them to tell a story about the person's life: they could give the person a name and write about each part, or write a story the way they wished.

I walked up to Jack and looked down at his paper. At the time, it had the pictures in order and just his name and the letters "OWNK" printed underneath.

"Read this to me," I said, pointing to the word.
"It says, oink," he told me.
"Why does it say oink?" I asked. (note to self: silly question)
"That's her name," he said, matter of factly.

I nearly lost it laughing. Oink. Her name. Yup. I did encourage them to name the person and tell a story, never expecting that an animal noise might end up as a name.

After I composed myself, I told Jack, "Don't forget to write about each part of Oink's life."

He giggled at me when I said it.

"You named her," I grinned.
"It just sounds funny when you say it."
"I think it sounds funny when anyone says it."
He considered that. "Yeah, I think that's right."

Then he wrote the story. About Oink, of course. I wonder if she'll appear in any writing during our Writing Workshop...

democracy in action...

2008-11-17T16:00:00.003-05:00

Our hermit crab died a week ago. :(

So, we mourned and examined the dead body, which was highly interesting to my students. Don't worry, though, we examined it through a plastic bag and didn't actually touch it.

An appropriate amount of time has passed, so today we set up some voting booths and got to vote for a new pet. The question was:

Please circle the pet you would like our class to have. Circle only one.

The grand total -- (click on the image to see it larger)
Fish = 18 Hermit Crab = 4

I guess the Hermit Crab didn't make as much of an impression as I thought it did...

what do you think?

2008-11-16T20:37:00.001-05:00

This may be a strange way of making this count for NaBloPoMo, but I'm going to do so anyway.

I write to communicate, to straighten my thoughts, to reflect, to come to a conclusion, to share, to do so many things. I do a lot of personal writing, a lot of public writing. I was even telling a friend this weekend that if I have a strong reaction to something, I will often write, write, write, and then email it to myself. Most of that writing never makes it anywhere-- it is ultimately personal -- but serves a specific purpose for me.

Now, while I write for myself, when I post something here, it is with the knowledge that someone might read it and a conversation or a small interaction might result. A lot of blogging, for me, is the interaction. Sometimes the interaction is related to a specific thought or idea, but many times it is meeting another teacher/writer/reflector and building a new connection.

And so, I ask...

What would you like to see me blog about?

I can't promise to write about everything, but now that I've said that blogging is about interaction, how about I put my money where my mouth is?

Have a great night. ♥

getting there

2008-11-15T07:53:00.002-05:00

On Friday I sat in the middle of our Writing Workshop with tears in my eyes.

I've mentioned before that my class this year is one of the most difficult (for a multitude of reasons) that I've had in thirteen years of teaching. There were moments not five weeks ago that I would sit and look at some of the chaos in front of me and think, Will we get there?

I have such faith in children, such a deep respect for them as important people, yet I don't always share the same faith in myself. I pretty regularly have doubts about my ability to manage that or organize this or develop curriculum for that...

The great thing? People around me do have that faith in me. Any time I was silently going over something that hadn't gone well, someone at school would have something positive to say -- something they'd seen me do, or important thinking they heard one of my students doing, or a kind, real act of compassion one of my students showed. I think that really helped keep refilling my reserve level of strength and faith in myself that I could help our class move forward, develop into the community I know we can become.

My friends, I really stepped back today and saw them. It was a beautiful moment, to be able to sit back and watch these children, purposeful and diligent (for the most part), getting to this work of writing.

One boy finally finished his book about interesting coins -- along with a table of contents that is barely readable to anyone other than a first grade teacher, but gloriously exhibits his own style.

Another girl put aside a story that was just not interesting anymore to try some humor. She always makes us laugh and decided to try her hand at that in writing today.

Benicio, who couldn't hear a lot of sounds in the beginning of the year and never left spaces between words, wrote a three page story about Halloween with spaces, many high frequency words spelled correctly, and punctuation.

So, yeah. If I ever had any doubt about the fact that we'd get there... I don't anymore. I certainly know that it's not going to be all wine and roses, but I see it now. I get it. We're well on our way.

And that's a beautiful thing. ♥

organizing books...

2008-11-14T08:02:00.002-05:00

I found this great idea on another teacher's blog here. This preschool teacher found a way to display books in a way that made it easy for her to see what was missing, but also empowered the children to put books away independently.

It was rather perfect timing to have found that this week, because I was just thinking about a way to reorganize the book display shelf in our class library. We were trying to put too many books on the shelf, I think, and the 'puzzle' aspect of it was not letting the kids be successful.

So, one morning I pulled all the books off and rearranged them -- grouping books if possible -- and then typed up the titles and taped them to display.

Here is how it looks:

It was exactly what my students needed. First of all, they know that the book will go back into the space from which they got it, so putting it away won't be hard. Also, they get to match letters and words, which six year olds just love. I also see them showing this sense of satisfaction when the books are put away and it looks neat and attractive -- they seem more proud of our library area these days.

I really love learning new and clever ideas from other teachers. We have such a wealth of knowledge to share with one another, don't we?

I can read that...

2008-11-13T22:50:00.001-05:00

Benicio has been learning English for slightly more than a year. He is completely dedicated to learning and takes everything I say very literally, obviously trying to put it into practice with his own learning. He is, quite honestly, amazing. The progress that he's made in the past ten weeks is remarkable.

Yesterday in the library, our librarian was reading Duck at the Door aloud to my class. She turned to one of the pages that was mostly an illustration, and in the center of the page were a few words in a regular size font and then "Duck" in larger letters.

I heard Benicio whisper, sort of in awe of himself, "I can read that!"

And then he did: "Duck."

I can scarcely imagine what he'll be doing by the end of the year. I sort of can't wait to find out... ♥

frog stickers and inspiration

2008-11-12T20:44:00.003-05:00

See the picture?

No, it's not an audition for hand-modeling, though the pose strikes me as a bit odd now that I look at it. (Look, ma, I've almost quit biting my nails!)

You probably can't help but notice that strange little sticker, yes? Well, it's there for a reason. Several years ago, I had this glorious imp of a little girl in my class. She was loud, energetic, full of love, completely desirous of friendship, and rather exhausting. As the months passed, I noticed that my normally overflowing reserve of patience was often tapped with her by the end of the day.

One night, I remember thinking really deeply about her, wondering what it was that tried my patience so. Every thought made me realize that it was not her intention, nor was it her fault. Yes, I'm blessed with a greater than average dose of patience, but she wasn't setting out daily to whittle it away.

That night, I started remembering little stories of her: snippets and images, her voice and her smile. By the time I went to bed, I had her fully on my mind and I couldn't stop smiling, thinking about her absolute glee about school and learning and me, her teacher.

I woke up on a mission. I knew it. I knew all these little, glorious things about her and by the end of the day, my patience was so thin that I wasn't remembering them. I realized that I needed a way to remember the bits of her that warmed my heart, so I could also support the parts of her that helped tire me out.

That's where the sticker idea came from. Putting a sticker on my hand was essentially tying a string around my finger. Every time I saw it, I thought of this little girl and all of the details that made her amazing. Now, I talk with my hands (more so than most humans in the world, probably), so you can imagine how often I saw that sticker during the day.

It was exactly right.

I spent the day remembering all of her, so that even during the moments that would have tired me out, I was able to hold onto her very essence and help reframe it -- for her and myself.

As for the visibility to her and other kids... well, I collect frogs, so when students saw the little frog sticker on my hand, they commented, but thought little of it. I just said it was there to help me remember something.

And remember it I did.

I honestly can't say where the sticker idea came from -- but that's often a theme in some of the greatest moments of teacher-inspiration, isn't it? A momentary brainstorm that ends up being just right.

So, there you have it. When I need to remember something, when I'm trying to break a habit, or start a new one, that's what I do. I stick a frog sticker on the fleshy part of my right hand and go about the day.

I'm sharing it here because, well, I love hearing about the little things that people invent to achieve a goal. Perhaps this will catch on and sweep the world! Maybe in a few months we'll see world leaders wearing frog stickers on their hands in the middle of important peace summits... maybe we'll see Wall Street execs wearing frog stickers during important financial meetings.

Maybe I should buy stock in frog stickers.

real writing, real kids...

2008-11-11T10:23:00.004-05:00

I want to thank my good friend and former (*sniff*) colleague Ms. Swamp for pointing out this book about Barack Obama: Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grimes. I think I'm going to stop by the bookstore on my way to dance class today to see if I can pick up a copy for my class.

Ms. Swamp -- or "Swampy" as I like to call her -- shared a book that her class wrote together about Barack Obama. My class will probably write a book in the future as well. Currently, during our Writing Workshop, many students are writing about the election, the candidates, or about going to vote with their family.

I thought I'd share some of their writing:

This is the cover of one little girl's book.

This little boy is writing about Obama and McCain. We talked about the speeches after the election was decided and how both of them used some of the traits that we talk about at our school (from the Reponsive Classroom's CARES).They used cooperation and assertion, responsibility ...

This little boy's book reads like a letter. When he's done, I sort of want to send it to Obama... Barack Obama, you're a nice person and you are friendly.

Barack Obama, you are a nice person and you are smart.

I'll try to upload some more another day. I am just truly blown away by the sheer need some of these children have to write what's going on for them. It's rather inspiring. ♥

a trail less travelled...

2008-11-10T20:38:00.002-05:00

Yesterday on a long walk throught the back trails of our neighborhood, my husband and I walked up a steep embankment and came to a road.

We looked at each other for a moment, not knowing exactly where we were. It took a minute, looking around at the landmarks, until I realized that we were standing on the side of a relatively major road in our neighborhood.

As soon as I figured it out, we both sort of laughed and nodded, realizing that it couldn't be anything but that particular road, based on where we were and the relationship of everything around us.

The point I took from that experience is this: I came upon something so completely familiar -- a road I travel on every day -- and yet it took me a few moments to recognize it when I approached it from a different direction.

What an important lesson to remember in teaching. How often are my students approaching something from a different perspective, a unique one that is not my own, and seeing it in a way that I might not see? Similarly -- and I think good teachers do this well -- there is a profound importance to anticipate various ways children might be approaching new or familiar learning.

How often do I 1) recognize when this is happening (remembering that it might be happening at any time) and 2) give them the time and direction they might need to make a learning connection on their own, rather than make it for them? Hopefully the answer is a large one.

For example, if I know that Benicio can read the predictable words on our Morning Message and I know that some of those words will be in the new book I'll be giving him during Guided Reading, I should recognize that he might be at a similar precipice and give him the tools to figure out that the word in front of him is one he knows, rather than do it for him.

He certainly has the tools to do it himself. :)

leaves...

2008-11-09T12:39:00.002-05:00

Several weeks ago, our first grade classes took a field trip to a local county park, a nature center with a pond and a stream and a fantastic trail for walking. During our nature walk, my students took great pleasure in kicking the fallen leaves up as they walked, crunching them underfoot, and just generally making a lot of noise with the leaves.

Today my husband and I went for a long walk through the trail in our neighborhood and beyond. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and the leaves were in full glory all along and across the trail. It was a great walk. Also, I discovered something. I am about twenty-nine years older than my students, and apparently...

Crunching and kicking and making a great deal of noise with fallen leaves just doesn't ever lose it's appeal. :)

Yardsticks

2008-11-08T22:11:00.001-05:00

The eagerness, curiosity, imagination, drive and enthusiasm of the six year old is perhaps never again matched in quantity or intensity during the life span.

~Chip Wood, Yardsticks

I don't know how many of you are familiar with this book, but I highly recommend it. I've owned it for probably ten years; my copy is tattered and falling apart and I really ought to invest in a new copy one day. Every time I pick it up I find something new.

This book details every age level from 4 - 14, and looks at the typical behavior/development in four areas: Physical, Language, Social, and Cognitive. It also looks at curriculum connections and discusses some things you probably *shouldn't* do with that particular age level. It's only about 8 pages per age level, but full of insight. Truly.

I love to share it with families throughout the year to let them see what an interesting age their children are at.

The quote I led off with above? Oh yes. Six year olds are incredible in the way they are pulling everything in and trying to make sense of everything around them. Every age level has its own unique and amazing characteristics, and I love that different people find such pleasure in different age levels. Imagine if every teacher liked only nine year olds? Where would the other age levels be?

I was thinking about some of my students this week and how uniquely six they are and it reminded me of this book. I'll try to recommend some of my other favorites over the next months.

Have a lovely night. ♥

Languages...

2008-11-07T10:27:00.002-05:00

How awesome is that, huh? Eleven different languages spoken in the homes of my students.

The world is an amazing place.

organization struggles

2008-11-06T10:58:00.006-05:00

In my quest for organization, we reorganized the tools in the writing area. It's always amazing to me the vast differences between each class of children. Some classes have a natural sort of ability to keep areas of the classroom clean and organized and some classes need specific, detailed, clear instructions. Sometimes it's only one or two children that need the support.

Well, this year's class needs as much routine and structure as I can possibly give them, so...

Our Writing Tools!

Some notes: the pencil sharpener is only open in the morning and at the end of the day, otherwise the noise is completely distracting. We also have two class jobs for children to be the one that sharpens the pencils. You can see two cans in the back of the station for sharp pencils and ones the need to be sharpened. It's a system I developed a few years ago and works well, so I keep it going.

You'll notice that the paper clip and sticky note containers are empty for the moment. This is deliberate. First, we haven't put those tools out yet. Secondly, it allows us to make a big deal when we are ready to put the tools out because the kids have seen the empty containers for a little while already.

Anyway, I think I might take some pictures of different areas over the next week or so and document them here. I find that I am, without a doubt, an organized person living in a disorganized person's body, so it's a near daily struggle for me to keep things in the right place. Creating classroom organization that works is a fun challenge for me, and definitely something I wish I was better at in my personal life.

How about you all? How do you deal with organization? Are there systems that you use that you find particularly helpful or that you're proud of?